Summary: We often think that people from a thousand years ago were living in the Dark Ages. But from the 7th century onward in Muslim civilization there were amazing advances and inventions that still influence our everyday lives. People living in the Muslim world saw what the Egyptians, Chinese, Indians, Greek, and Romans had discovered and spent the next one thousand years adding new developments and...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: National Geographic 2012
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1 available in Juvenile Nonfiction, Call number: J 297.2 ONEHill, Marc Lamont
Summary: "A riveting exploration of how the power of visual media over the last few years has shifted the narrative on race and reignited the push towards justice by the New York Times bestselling author of the "worthy and necessary" (The New York Times) Nobody, Marc Lamont Hill, and the bestselling author and acclaimed journalist Todd Brewster. With his signature "clear and courageous" (Cornel West)...
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Publisher / Publication Date: Atria Books 2022
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1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 303.3 HILCopies Available at Peninsula
1 available in Adult, Call number: 303.3 HILBeiser, Vince
Summary: The gripping story of the most important overlooked commodity in the world -- sand -- and the crucial role it plays in our lives. After water and air, sand is the natural resource that we consume more than any other -- even more than oil. Every concrete building and paved road on Earth, every computer screen and silicon chip, is made from sand. From Egypt's pyramids to the Hubble telescope,...
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Publisher / Publication Date: Riverhead Books 2018
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1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 620.1 BEISummary: Children are used to hearing about how important it is to protect nature, but they may not fully understand how the natural world can positively impact their emotional wellbeing. With that in mind, this book looks to show children how nature can be fun, uplifting, consoling and even offer companionship.
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: The School of Life 2022
Copies Available at Peninsula
1 available in Juvenile, Call number: J304.2 SCHHustad, Douglas
Summary: When Russia sent Sputnik 1 into space, the country launched not only a satellite but a new age. Many popular stories about American advancements during the space age have gotten some facts wrong and left out others altogether. Fact and Fiction of the Space Age dives into the myths about the history of NASA and space exploration and brings the truth to light. Easy-to-read text, vivid images, and...
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Publisher / Publication Date: Core Library, an imprint of Abdo Publishing Company 2021
Copies Available at Peninsula
1 available in Juvenile, Call number: J973.9 HUSHarari, Yuval N.
Summary: In the second "Sapiens" volume, Yuval Noah Harari tells the story of how we took over the world; how an unlikely marriage between a god and a bureaucrat created the first empires; and how war, famine, disease, and inequality became a part of the human condition. The origins of modern farming are introduced through Elizabethan tragedy, the changing fortunes of domesticated plants and animals are...
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Publisher / Publication Date: Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 2021
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2 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 909 HARHarari, Yuval N.
Summary: "In this first volume of the full-color illustrated adaptation of his groundbreaking book, renowned historian Yuval Harari tells the story of humankind's creation and evolution, exploring the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be 'human'. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the...
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Publisher / Publication Date: Harper Perennial 2020
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1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 909 HARSummary: "Science fiction is a vital part of popular culture, influencing the way we all look at the world. TV shows like Star Trek and movies from Forbidden Planet to Inception have influenced scientists to enter the profession and have shaped our futures. Science fiction doesn't set out to predict what will happen - it's far more about how human beings react to "What if?..." - but it is fascinating to...
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Publisher / Publication Date: St. Martin's Press 2015
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1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 153 CLESummary: An epic detective story that offers a gripping expose on why the world is so unequal. Professor Jared Diamond traveled the globe for over 30 years trying to answer this question. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book. Why did Eurasians conquer, displace, or decimate Native Americans, Australians, and Africans, instead of the reverse? Diamond dismantles racially based theories of human...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: National Geographic 2005
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2 available in E-TV DVDs, Call number: DVD E-TV GUNCasciotta, CJ
Summary: "Casciotta outlines nine beatitudes for living in this unrivaled age, charting a new path forward for those tired of feeling like their devices own them and their loved ones, and helps rewrite the narrative for anyone concerned about where this is all heading"--
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Publisher / Publication Date: Matt Holt Books, an imprint of BenBella Books 2023
Sorry, no copies available
Place a hold to request this item.Summary: Bill Nye illustrates how various types of transportation utilize friction, from traction in trains and the "roll" of ball bearings in skateboards and automobiles, to the lack of friction in a hovercraft.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Disney Educational Productions 2008
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1 available in Juvenile Digital Video Disc, Call number: DVD JUV BILRushkoff, Douglas
Summary: The tech elite have a plan to survive the apocalypse: they want to leave us all behind. Douglas Rushkoff explains why those with the most power to change our current trajectory have no interest in doing so. He shows us how to transcend a world alive with algorithms and intelligences actively rewarding our most selfish tendencies, and rediscover community, mutual aid, and human interdependency.
Format: sound recording-nonmusical
Publisher / Publication Date: 2022
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1 available in Compact Disc Audio Book, Call number: CD 303.48 RUSMcLuhan, Marshall
Summary: 30 years after its publication Marshall McLuhan's The Medium is the Massage remains his most entertaining, provocative, and piquant book. With every technological and social "advance" McLuhan's proclamation that "the media work us over completely" becomes more evident and plain. In his words, so pervasive are they in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Gingko Press 1996
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1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 302.23 MCLSummary: Transcendent Man explores the theories of inventor, futurist, and best selling author Ray Kurzweil (The Singularity Is Near), who predicts that in the not-so-distant future, the science fiction behind The Terminator, Blade Runner, Total Recall, The Matrix, and I Robot will become science fact. The film follows Kurzweil as he journeys the world sharing his mind-bending vision of a future in...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Docurama Films 2011
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1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC TRAColvile, Robert
Summary: Colvile inspects the various ways in which the pace of life in our society is increasing and examines the evolutionary science behind our need for constant acceleration, as well as why it's unlikely we'll be able to slow down--or even want to.
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Publisher / Publication Date: Bloomsbury USA 2016
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1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 153 COLEiseley, Loren C.
Summary: "A modern Thoreau explores the mysteries of the universe."--publisher.
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Library Of America 2016
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1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 814 EISSummary: Koyaanisqatsi is a Hopi Indian word meaning variously: crazy life, life in turmoil, life disintegrating, life out of balance (the subtitle for this film), and a state of life that calls for another way of life. Presented by Francis Ford Coppola, this creation of director Godfrey Reggio, cinematographer Ron Fricke, and composer Philip Glass seems to flash by your eyes but lingers in your mind.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: MGM Home Entertainment 2002
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2 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC KOYEiseley, Loren C.
Summary: "A paleontologist with the spirit of a poet."--publisher.
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Library Of America 2016
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1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 814 EISSummary: In this cinematic concert - the concluding film of the Qatsi Trilogy preceded by Koyaanisqatsi (Life out of balance), and Powaqqatsi (Life in transformation) - images reanimated from everyday reality, then visually altered with state-of-the-art digital techniques, chronicle the shift from a world organized by the principles of nature to one dominated by technology, the synthetic and the...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Distributed by Buena Vista Home Entertainment 2003
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1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC NAQSummary: "This film calls into question everything we think we know about contemporary society. By juxtaposing images of ancient cultures with those of modern life, Powaqqatsi masterfully portrays the human cost of progress."
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: MGM Home Entertainment 2002
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1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC POWMerchant, Brian
Summary: "The most urgent story in modern tech begins not in Silicon Valley but two hundred years ago in rural England, when workers known as the Luddites rose up rather than starve at the hands of factory owners who were using automated machines to erase their livelihoods. The Luddites organized guerrilla raids to smash those machines--on punishment of death--and won the support of Lord Byron, enraged...
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Publisher / Publication Date: Little, Brown and Company 2023
Sorry, no copies available
Place a hold to request this item.Summary: An unconventional work in every way, the Qatsi Trilogy wordlessly surveys the rapidly changing environments of the Northern Hemisphere. It shuttles viewers from one vision to the next, moving from images of untouched nature to others depicting human beings' increasing dependence on technology. -- adapted from container.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2012
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1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC QATSummary: "Fascinated by the role technology played in transforming our lives, one of the twentieth century's most famous intellectuals realized, with stunning accuracy, the impact the digital age would have on our social, spiritual, economic and ideological selves. 'The global village' and 'the medium is the message' are among the most quoted phrases of our time. Now, twenty years after his death, in...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: National Film Board of Canada 2003
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1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC MCLFinan, Catherine C.
Summary: "You may like chocolate, but how would you feel about using cocoa beans as money or in glue? Maybe you'd like to play a ball game for warriors (just be careful you don't become a scarified to the gods after playing). What about living life with a calendar system even more advanced than our own? You could try it all if you lived like the Maya! Discover extreme facts about the Maya civilization...
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Publisher / Publication Date: Bearport Publishing 2022