The Conundrum

Author: David Owen
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101560134
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 205

Book Description
Look out for David Owen's next book, Where the Water Goes. The Conundrum is a mind-changing manifesto about the environment, efficiency and the real path to sustainability. Hybrid cars, fast trains, compact florescent light bulbs, solar panels, carbon offsets: Everything you've been told about living green is wrong. The quest for a breakthrough battery or a 100 mpg car are dangerous fantasies. We are consumers, and we like to consume green and efficiently. But David Owen argues that our best intentions are still at cross purposes to our true goal - living sustainably and caring for our environment and the future of the planet. Efficiency, once considered the holy grail of our environmental problems, turns out to be part of the problem. Efforts to improve efficiency and increase sustainable development only exacerbate the problems they are meant to solve, more than negating the environmental gains. We have little trouble turning increases in efficiency into increases in consumption. David Owen's The Conundrum is an elegant nonfiction narrative filled with fascinating information and anecdotes takes you through the history of energy and the quest for efficiency. This is a book about the environment that will change how you look at the world. We should not be waiting for some geniuses to invent our way out of the energy and economic crisis we're in. We already have the technology and knowledge we need to live sustainably. But will we do it? That is the conundrum.

Conundrum

Author: Jan Morris
Publisher: New York Review of Books
ISBN: 9781590171899
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Book Description
One of the first-ever books on gender transition, this poignant memoir by a trans woman is “the best first-hand account ever written by a traveler across the boundaries of sex” (Newsweek). “A profoundly poetic story.” —The New York Times “An exquisite read.” —Maria Popova, The Marginalian The great travel writer Jan Morris was born James Morris. James Morris distinguished himself in the British military, became a successful and physically daring reporter, climbed mountains, crossed deserts, and established a reputation as a historian of the British empire. He was happily married, with several children. To all appearances, he was not only a man, but a man’s man. Except that appearances, as James Morris had known from early childhood, can be deeply misleading. James Morris had known all his conscious life that at heart he was a woman. Conundrum, one of the earliest books to discuss transsexuality with honesty and without prurience, tells the story of James Morris’ hidden life and how he decided to bring it into the open, as he resolved first on a hormone treatment and, second, on risky experimental surgery that would turn him into the woman that he truly was.

The Conundrum of Corruption

Author: Michael Johnston
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000317579
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 138

Book Description
This book argues that it is time to step back and reassess the anti-corruption movement, which despite its many opportunities and great resources has ended up with a track record that is indifferent at best. Drawing on many years of experience and research, the authors critique many of the major strategies and tactics employed by anti-corruption actors, arguing that they have made the mistake of holding on to problematical assumptions, ideas, and strategies, rather than addressing the power imbalances that enable and sustain corruption. The book argues that progress against corruption is still possible but requires a focus on justice and fairness, considerable tolerance for political contention, and a willingness to stick with the reform cause over a very long process of thoroughgoing, sometimes discontinuous political change. Ultimately, the purpose of the book is not to tell people that they are doing things all wrong. Instead, the authors present new ways of thinking about familiar dilemmas of corruption, politics, contention, and reform. These valuable insights from two of the top thinkers in the field will be useful for policymakers, reform groups, grant-awarding bodies, academic researchers, NGO officers, and students.

The Cougar Conundrum

Author: Mark Elbroch
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 161091998X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 282

Book Description
The relationship between humans and mountain lions has always been uneasy. A century ago, mountain lions were vilified as a threat to livestock and hunted to the verge of extinction. In recent years, this keystone predator has made a remarkable comeback, but today humans and mountain lions appear destined for a collision course. Its recovery has led to an unexpected conundrum: Do more mountain lions mean they’re a threat to humans and domestic animals? Or, are mountain lions still in need of our help and protection as their habitat dwindles and they’re forced into the edges and crevices of communities to survive? Mountain lion biologist and expert Mark Elbroch welcomes these tough questions. He dismisses long-held myths about mountain lions and uses groundbreaking science to uncover important new information about their social habits. Elbroch argues that humans and mountain lions can peacefully coexist in close proximity if we ignore uninformed hype and instead arm ourselves with knowledge and common sense. He walks us through the realities of human safety in the presence of mountain lions, livestock safety, competition with hunters for deer and elk, and threats to rare species, dispelling the paranoia with facts and logic. In the last few chapters, he touches on human impacts on mountain lions and the need for a sensible management strategy. The result, he argues, is a win-win for humans, mountain lions, and the ecosystems that depend on keystone predators to keep them in healthy balance. The Cougar Conundrum delivers a clear-eyed assessment of a modern wildlife challenge, offering practical advice for wildlife managers, conservationists, hunters, and those in the wildland-urban interface who share their habitat with large predators.

Conundrum

Author: Richard Bacon
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1849546169
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Book Description
Government failure is affecting everyone. The single mum worried sick by a tax credit demand from HMRC to 'repay' thousands of pounds she never received; the family whose holiday was ruined because the Passport Office couldn't issue passports in time; the school that couldn't open at the start of term because CRB checks were being carried out by an organisation in meltdown; the farmers led to bankruptcy and even suicide by a Kafkaesque system for administering farm payments; and rail operators facing an uncertain future because the Department for Transport inadvertently landed the whole rail franchising system in chaos. Why is government getting it so wrong? Richard Bacon and Christopher Hope delve into the astonishing world of cock-ups and catastrophes and ponder why those at the top continue to fall short.

The North Korean Conundrum

Author: Robert R. King
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1931368686
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Book Description
North Korea is consistently identified as one of the world’s worst human rights abusers. However, the issue of human rights in North Korea is a complex one, intertwined with issues like life in the North Korean police state, inter-Korean relations, denuclearization, access to information in the North, and international cooperation, to name a few. There are likewise multiple actors involved, including the two Korean governments, the United States, the United Nations, South Korea NGOs, and global human rights organizations. While North Korea’s nuclear weapons and the security threat it poses have occupied the center stage and eclipsed other issues in recent years, human rights remain important to U.S. policy. The contributors to The North Korean Conundrum explore how dealing with the issue of human rights is shaped and affected by the political issues with which it is so entwined. Sections discuss the role of the United Nations; how North Koreans’ limited access to information is part of the problem, and how this is changing; the relationship between human rights and denuclearization; and North Korean human rights in comparative perspective.

ConUNdrum

Author: Brett D. Schaefer
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9781442200067
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 408

Book Description
Theo Michael's first book records his journey as an artist and features over 50 of his most successful paintings, including Balcony With A View, Serenade, A Kiss Is Just A Kiss and many more.Created in his own personal cinematic poster style, the paintings capture the nostalgia of a time gone by in a genre often referred to as Art Noir. His love for Film Noir, 'B' movies and Pulp Art books is apparent.Many of Theo's landscape paintings are strongly influenced by the American illustrator Edward Hopper, beautifully capturing the effects of summer light. The book is full of sketches and preliminary work, revealing the working method of an artist. A perfect coffee table item, ideally suited as a gift.

Conundrum

Author: Brian Clegg
Publisher: Icon Books
ISBN: 1785784110
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 310

Book Description
**'Title of Most Fiendish Book goes to Conundrum: Crack the Ultimate Cipher Challenge by the ever-excellent science writer Brian Clegg.' Daily Mail, Books of the Year** The ultimate trial of knowledge and cunning, Conundrum features 200 cryptic puzzles and ciphers. The solutions link throughout the book – so you need to solve them all to get to the final round. With a focus on ciphers and codebreaking, Conundrum contains twenty sections, each built around a specific subject from music to literature, physics to politics. To take on Conundrum you need good general knowledge and the ability to think laterally. But if you need help, there are plenty of hints to point you in the right direction. Whether you attempt to crack it alone or work in a team, Conundrum will challenge you to the extreme. Can you take on Conundrum and win? There's only one way to find out ...

Conundrums

Author: Harry Pearce
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062042750
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description
Conundrum is a mind-stretch. Encrypting idioms into their typographic equivalents, Harry enlivens our everyday language and challenges readers to see that "time after time after time" or, at least, "more often than not" "the writing is on the wall." For fans of word puzzles, sudoku, crosswords, and all manner of mind games, Conundrum offers an artfully packaged, cleverly designed new challenge. Drawing upon, literally in this case, graphic puzzles that he began creating as a child, Harry's developed over 100 witty conundrums for this book that will stretch the mind as well as delight the senses. A member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale, a frequent lecturer and contributor to design discourse, an internationally recognized leader in design, and a founder of Lippa Pearce, one of the UK's most respected design agencies, Harry refines the way we see and communicate. Conundrum achieves nothing less than changing how we understand and interact with language.

A Compendium of Collective Nouns

Author: Woop Studios
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 9781452108230
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
This illustrated guide compiles over 2,000 collective nouns and brings them to life in stunningly colorful, graphic artwork from the design dynamos at Woop Studios. Chock-full of treasures of the English language, the diversity of terms collected here covers topics from plants and animals (a parade of elephants, an embarrassment of pandas) to people and things (a pomposity of professors, an exultation of fireworks) and range from the familiar (a pride of lions) to the downright obscure (an ooze of amoebas). Pronunciations, definitions, etymologies, and historical anecdotes make this beautiful book an entertaining read, a standout reference, and a visual treat. Language lovers and art appreciators alike will be captivated by this gem, rich in word and image.