BiblioVault - Books about How

Dante’s Bones: How a Poet Invented Italy
Guy P. Raffa
Harvard University Press, 2020
Library of Congress PQ4355.6.R34 2020 | Dewey Decimal 851.1

A richly detailed graveyard history of the Florentine poet whose dead body shaped Italy from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to the Risorgimento, World War I, and Mussolini’s fascist dictatorship.

Dante, whose Divine Comedy gave the world its most vividly imagined story of the afterlife, endured an extraordinary afterlife of his own. Exiled in death as in life, the Florentine poet has hardly rested in peace over the centuries. Like a saint’s relics, his bones have been stolen, recovered, reburied, exhumed, examined, and, above all, worshiped. Actors in this graveyard history range from Lorenzo de’ Medici, Michelangelo, and Pope Leo X to the Franciscan friar who hid the bones, the stone mason who accidentally discovered them, and the opportunistic sculptor who accomplished what princes, popes, and politicians could not: delivering to Florence a precious relic of the native son it had banished.

In Dante’s Bones, Guy Raffa narrates for the first time the complete course of the poet’s hereafter, from his death and burial in Ravenna in 1321 to a computer-generated reconstruction of his face in 2006. Dante’s posthumous adventures are inextricably tied to major historical events in Italy and its relationship to the wider world. Dante grew in stature as the contested portion of his body diminished in size from skeleton to bones, fragments, and finally dust: During the Renaissance, a political and literary hero in Florence; in the nineteenth century, the ancestral father and prophet of Italy; a nationalist symbol under fascism and amid two world wars; and finally the global icon we know today.

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Darwinian Reductionism: Or, How to Stop Worrying and Love Molecular Biology
Alexander Rosenberg
University of Chicago Press, 2006
Library of Congress QH506.R654 2006 | Dewey Decimal 572.8

After the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953, scientists working in molecular biology embraced reductionism—the theory that all complex systems can be understood in terms of their components. Reductionism, however, has been widely resisted by both nonmolecular biologists and scientists working outside the field of biology. Many of these antireductionists, nevertheless, embrace the notion of physicalism—the idea that all biological processes are physical in nature. How, Alexander Rosenberg asks, can these self-proclaimed physicalists also be antireductionists?

With clarity and wit, Darwinian Reductionism navigates this difficult and seemingly intractable dualism with convincing analysis and timely evidence. In the spirit of the few distinguished biologists who accept reductionism—E. O. Wilson, Francis Crick, Jacques Monod, James Watson, and Richard Dawkins—Rosenberg provides a philosophically sophisticated defense of reductionism and applies it to molecular developmental biology and the theory of natural selection, ultimately proving that the physicalist must also be a reductionist.

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Democracy and Regulation: How the Public Can Govern Essential Services
Greg Palast, Theo MacGregor, and Jerrold Oppenheim
Pluto Press, 2002
Library of Congress HD2766.P33 2003 | Dewey Decimal 338.97305

Democracy's Meanings: How the Public Understands Democracy and Why It Matters
Nicholas T. Davis, Keith Gåddie, and Kirby Goidel
University of Michigan Press, 2022
Library of Congress JK1764 | Dewey Decimal 323.0420973

Democracy’s Meanings challenges conventional wisdom regarding how the public thinks about and evaluates democracy. Mining both political theory and more than 75 years of public opinion data, the book argues that Americans think about democracy in ways that go beyond voting or elected representation. Instead, citizens have rich and substantive views about the material conditions that democracy should produce, which draw from their beliefs about equality, fairness, and justice.

The authors construct a typology of views about democracy. Procedural views of democracy take a minimalistic quality. While voting and fair treatment are important to this vision of democracy, ideas about equality are mostly limited to civil liberties. In contrast, social views of democracy incorporate both civil and economic equality; according to people with these views, democracy ought to meet the basic social and material needs of citizens. Complementing these two groups are moderate and indifferent views about democracy. While moderate views sit somewhere in between procedural and social perspectives regarding the role of democracy in producing social and economic equality, indifferent views of democracy involve disaffection toward it. For a small group of apathetic citizens, democracy is an ambiguous and ill-defined concept.

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Desert Landscaping: How to Start and Maintain a Healthy Landscape in the Southwest
George Brookbank
University of Arizona Press, 1992
Library of Congress SB427.5.B76 1991 | Dewey Decimal 635.952

George Brookbank has distilled nearly twenty years' experience—as an extension agent in urban horticulture with the University of Arizona—into a practical book that tells how to avoid problems with desert landscaping before they occur and how to correct those that do. In the first part, "How to Start and Maintain a Desert Landscape," he provides 28 easy-to-use chapters that address concerns ranging from how to start a wildflower garden to how to cope with Texas root rot. In Part Two, "A Month-By-Month Maintenance Guide," he offers a handy almanac that tells what to do and what to watch out for each month of the year, with cross-references to the chapters in Part One. Homeowners who maintain their own landscape will find in this book ways to make the work more satisfying and productive, while those who hire landscape contractors can make sure the work is done effectively and economically. "You'll find all kinds of books on desert landscape design and materials, irrigation system and design, and landscape installation," says Brookbank. "So far as I know, however, this is the only book that tells you what to do with what you've got and how to keep it growing."

CONTENTS

Part 1 - How to Start and Maintain a Desert Landscape
1. Desert Conditions: How They Are "Different"
2. Plants Are Like People: They're Not Alike
3. Use Arid-Land Plants to Save Water
4. How to Irrigate in the Desert
5. How to Design and Install a Drip Irrigation System
6. Soils and Their Improvement I: How to Plant in the Desert
7. Soils and Their Improvement II: How to Use Fertilizers
8. What to Do When Things Go Wrong: A Troubleshooter's Guide
9. How to Avoid—and Repair—Frost Damage
10. How to Control "Weeds"
11. Palo Verde Borer Beetle: What to Do
12. How to Avoid Texas Root Rot
13. When You Move Into an Empty House
14. What to Do About Roots in Drains
15. How to Dig Up Plants and Move Them
16. How to Have Flower Bed Color All Year
17. Landscape Gardening with Containers
18. Starting Wildflowers
19. Starting a Lawn
20. Making and Keeping a Good Hedge
21. Pruning Trees and Shrubs
22. Palm Tree Care
23. Caring for Saguaros, Ocotillos, Avages, and Prickly Pears
24. Roses in the Desert: Hard Work and Some Disappointments
25. Landscaping with Citrus
26. Swimming Pools: Plants, Play, and Water-Saving
27. Landscape Maintenance While You're Away
28. Condominiums: Common Grounds, Common Problems

Part 2 - A Month-by-Month Maintenance Guide

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Designing Businesses: How to develop and lead a high technology company
George Young
The Institution of Engineering and Technology, 1997
Library of Congress HD62.37.Y67 1997 | Dewey Decimal 338.762

Engineers and other technical professionals are increasingly presented with the opportunity of running their own businesses as entrepreneurs. In other circumstances, particularly in times of great change in industry, they may be considered 'corporate entrepreneurs', leading divisions of larger organisations in an entrepreneurial fashion.

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The Digital NBA: How the World's Savviest League Brings the Court to Our Couch
Steven Secular
University of Illinois Press, 2023
Library of Congress GV885.515.N37S44 2023 | Dewey Decimal 796.3236406

The National Basketball Association reaches a global audience via a multiplatform strategy that leverages its uncanny ability to connect fans to all things NBA. Steven Secular brings readers inside the league’s global operations and traces the history of the NBA’s approach to sports media from its 1980s embrace of cable through the streaming revolution of the twenty-first century. As fans around the world stream games and other league content, NBA teams incorporate foreign languages and cultures into broadcasts to boost their product’s appeal to audiences in Brazil, China, and beyond. Secular’s analysis reveals how the NBA continues to transform itself into a wildly successful media producer and distributor more akin to a streaming studio than the sports leagues of old even as its media partners and sponsors erase any notion of sports as a civic good.

A timely look at a dynamic media landscape, The Digital NBA shows how the games we love became content first and sport a distant second.

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Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare Citations, Avoid Plagiarism, and Achieve Real Academic Success
Charles Lipson
University of Chicago Press, 2004
Library of Congress PN171.F56L56 2004 | Dewey Decimal 025.324

As college deans and faculty are well aware, cheating and plagiarism have become an epidemic. Some students deliberately download papers, while others break rules they simply don't understand. Unfortunately, there have been no reliable guides to aid students, faculty, and teaching assistants in navigating these challenging issues. Now, there's help. Charles Lipson, a distinguished scholar and teacher who has coached thousands of students in the basics of honest work, provides clear, accessible, and often humorous advice on all aspects of college studies, from papers and exams to study groups and labs.

In the first part of the book, Lipson outlines three core principles of academic honesty and explores how these principles inform all aspects of college work. He discusses plagiarism in detail, outlining an ingenious note-taking system and offering guidelines for quoting and paraphrasing. Careful attention is paid to online research, including the perils of "dragging and dropping" text without proper citation. These chapters include numerous tips, all highlighted for students, on how to work honestly and study effectively.

The second part of the book gives a full account of citation styles in the humanities, social sciences, and physical and biological sciences, as well as in pre-professional studies. Filled with examples, these chapters show students exactly how to cite books, journals, edited volumes, Web sites, online publications, and much more—in every citation style imaginable.

By clearly communicating the basic principles of academic honesty and exploring these principles in action, Doing Honest Work in College promotes genuine learning and academic success. This must-have reference empowers faculty and students to address questions about academic honesty before problems arise. It will be the book students turn to for advice from their first class to their final exam.

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Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare Citations, Avoid Plagiarism, and Achieve Real Academic Success, Second Edition
Charles Lipson
University of Chicago Press, 2008
Library of Congress PN171.F56L56 2008 | Dewey Decimal 808.027

Since its publication in 2004, Doing Honest Work in College has become an integral part of academic integrity and first-year experience programs across the country. This helpful guide explains the principles of academic integrity in a clear, straightforward way and shows students how to apply them in all academic situations—from paper writing and independent research to study groups and lab work. Teachers can use this book to open a discussion with their students about these difficult issues. Students will find a trusted resource for citation help whether they are studying comparative literature or computer science. Every major reference style is represented. Most important of all, many universities that adopt this book report a reduction in cheating and plagiarism on campus.
            For this second edition, Charles Lipson has updated hundreds of examples and included many new media sources. There is now a full chapter on how to take good notes and use them properly in papers and assignments. The extensive list of citation styles incorporates guidelines from the American Anthropological Association. The result is the definitive resource on academic integrity that students can use every day.
            “Georgetown’s entering class will discover that we actually have given them what we expect will be a very useful book, Doing Honest Work in College. It will be one of the first things students see on their residence hall desks when they move in, and we hope they will realize how important the topic is.”—James J. O’Donnell, Provost, Georgetown University
            “A useful book to keep on your reference shelf.”—Bonita L. Wilcox, English Leadership Quarterly

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Doing Honest Work in College, Third Edition: How to Prepare Citations, Avoid Plagiarism, and Achieve Real Academic Success
Charles Lipson
University of Chicago Press, 2018
Library of Congress PN171.F56L56 2018 | Dewey Decimal 808.027

Doing Honest Work in College stands on three principles: do the work you say you do, give others credit, and present your research fairly. These are straightforward concepts, but the abundance of questionable online sources and temptation of a quick copy-paste can cause confusion as to what’s considered citing and what’s considered cheating. This guide starts out by clearly defining plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty and then gives students the tools they need to avoid those pitfalls. This edition addresses the acceptable use of mobile devices on tests, the proper approach to sources such as podcasts or social media posts, and the limitations of citation management software.

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Down Ballot: How a Local Campaign Became a National Referendum on Abortion
Patrick Wohl
University of Illinois Press, 2024

In 1990, a suburban Chicago race for the Republican Party nomination for state representative unexpectedly became a national proxy battle over abortion in the United States. But the hard-fought primary also illustrated the overlooked importance of down-ballot contests in America’s culture wars. Patrick Wohl offers the dramatic account of a rollercoaster campaign that, after attracting political celebrities and a media circus, came down to thirty-one votes, a coin toss to determine the winner, and a recount fight that set a precedent for how to count dimpled chads. As the story unfolds, Wohl provides a rare nuts-and-bolts look at an election for state office from its first days through the Illinois Supreme Court decision that decided the winner--and set the stage for a decisive 1992 rematch.

A compelling political page-turner, Down Ballot takes readers behind the scenes of a legendary Illinois election.

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Dr. Golem: How to Think about Medicine
Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch
University of Chicago Press, 2005
Library of Congress RC81.C695 2005 | Dewey Decimal 616.001

A creature of Jewish mythology, a golem is an animated being made by man from clay and water who knows neither his own strength nor the extent of his ignorance. Like science and technology, the subjects of Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch's previous volumes, medicine is also a golem, and this Dr. Golem should not be blamed for its mistakes—they are, after all, our mistakes. The problem lies in its well-meaning clumsiness.

Dr. Golem explores some of the mysteries and complexities of medicine while untangling the inherent conundrums of scientific research and highlighting its vagaries. Driven by the question of what to do in the face of the fallibility of medicine, Dr. Golem encourages a more inquisitive attitude toward the explanations and accounts offered by medical science. In eight chapters devoted to case studies of modern medicine, Collins and Pinch consider the prevalence of tonsillectomies, the placebo effect and randomized control trials, bogus doctors, CPR, the efficacy of Vitamin C in fighting cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, AIDS cures, and vaccination. They also examine the tension between the conflicting faces of medicine: medicine as science versus medicine as a source of succor; the interests of an individual versus the interests of a group; and the benefits in the short term versus success rates in the long term. Throughout, Collins and Pinch remind readers that medical science is an economic as well as a social consideration, encapsulated for the authors in the timeless struggle to balance the good health of the many—with vaccinations, for instance—with the good health of a few—those who have adverse reactions to the vaccine.

In an age when the deaths of research subjects, the early termination of clinical trials, and the research guidelines for stem cells are front-page news, Dr. Golem is a timely analysis of the limitations of medicine that never loses sight of its strengths.

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Dreaming Reality: How the Newest Brain Science and Ancient Mind Technologies Illuminate the Fabric of Experience
Vladimir Miskovic, Steven Jay Lynn
Harvard University Press

Dynamic Partisanship: How and Why Voter Loyalties Change
Ken Kollman and John E. Jackson
University of Chicago Press, 2021
Library of Congress JF2071.K65 2021 | Dewey Decimal 324.2

Why do people identify with political parties? How stable are those identifications? Stable party systems, with a limited number of parties and mostly stable voter identification with a party, are normally considered significant signals of a steady democracy. In Dynamic Partisanship, Ken Kollman and John E. Jackson study changing patterns of partisanship in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia over the last fifty years in order to disentangle possible reasons for shifting partisanship and party identification. The authors argue that changes in partisanship can be explained by adjustments in voters’ attitudes toward issues or parties; the success or failure of policies advocated by parties; or alterations in parties’ positions on key issues. They contend that, while all three factors contribute, it is the latter, a party changing positions on a chief concern, that most consistently leads voters to or from a particular party. Their approach provides a deeper knowledge of the critical moving parts in democratic politics.

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