A Splendid Exchange

A Splendid Exchange PDF Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN: 1555848435
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 480

Book Description
A Financial Times and Economist Best Book of the Year exploring world trade from Mesopotamia in 3,000 BC to modern globalization. How did trade evolve to the point where we don’t think twice about biting into an apple from the other side of the world? In A Splendid Exchange, William J. Bernstein, bestselling author of The Birth of Plenty, traces the story of global commerce from its prehistoric origins to the myriad controversies surrounding it today. Journey from ancient sailing ships carrying silk from China to Rome in the second century to the rise and fall of the Portuguese monopoly on spices in the sixteenth; from the American trade battles of the early twentieth century to the modern era of televisions from Taiwan, lettuce from Mexico, and T-shirts from China. Bernstein conveys trade and globalization not in political terms, but rather as an ever-evolving historical constant, like war or religion, that will continue to foster the growth of intellectual capital, shrink the world, and propel the trajectory of the human species. “[An] entertaining and greatly enlightening book.” —The New York Times “A work of which Adam Smith and Max Weber would have approved.” —Foreign Affairs “[Weaves] skillfully between rollicking adventures and scholarship.” —Pietra Rivoli, author of The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy

A Splendid Exchange

A Splendid Exchange PDF Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781843548034
Category : Commerce
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Traces the evolution of international trade, from ancient Mesopotamia to today's global marketplace, exploring the influence of commerce on agriculture, technology, politics, and civilization as a whole.

Masters of the Word

Masters of the Word PDF Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
ISBN: 0802193447
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 457

Book Description
A “riveting and thoroughly researched” history of language technology’s effect on society across millennia—from Sumerian syntax to social media hashtags (Phil Lapsley). Writing was born thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia. Spreading to Sumer, and then Egypt, this revolutionary tool allowed rulers to extend their control far and wide, giving rise to the world’s first empires. When Phoenician traders took their alphabet to Greece, literacy’s first boom led to the birth of drama and democracy. In Rome, it helped spell the downfall of the Republic. Later, medieval scriptoria and vernacular bibles gave rise to religious dissent, and with the combination of cheaper paper and Gutenberg’s printing press, the fuse of Reformation was lit. The Industrial Revolution brought the telegraph and the steam driven printing press, allowing information to move faster and wider than ever before through the invention of the newspaper. But along with radio and television, these new technologies were more easily exploited by the powerful, as seen in Germany, the Soviet Union, even Rwanda, where radio incited genocide. With the rise of carbon duplicates (Russian samizdat), photocopying (the Pentagon Papers), the internet, social media, and cell phones (the recent Arab Spring) more people have access to communications, making the world more connected than ever before. This “accessible, quite enjoyable, and highly informative read” will change the way you look at technology, history, and power (Booklist). “[Bernstein] enables us to see what remains the same, even as much has changed.” —Library Journal, “Editors’ Picks” “It brims with interesting ideas and astonishing connections.” —Phil Lapsley, author of Exploding the Phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell “[Bernstein’s] narrative is succinct and extremely well sourced. . . . [He] reminds us of a number of technologies whose changed roles are less widely chronicled in conventional histories of the media.” —The Irish Times

The Delusions of Crowds

The Delusions of Crowds PDF Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher: Grove Press
ISBN: 0802157114
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 491

Book Description
This “disturbing yet fascinating” exploration of mass mania through the ages explains the biological and psychological roots of irrationality (Kirkus Reviews). From time immemorial, contagious narratives have spread through susceptible groups—with enormous, often disastrous, consequences. Inspired by Charles Mackay’s nineteenth-century classic Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, neurologist and author William Bernstein examines mass delusion through the lens of current scientific research in The Delusions of Crowds. Bernstein tells the stories of dramatic religious and financial mania in western society over the last five hundred years—from the Anabaptist Madness of the 1530s to the dangerous End-Times beliefs that pervade today’s polarized America; and from the South Sea Bubble to the Enron scandal and dot com bubbles. Through Bernstein’s supple prose, the participants are as colorful as their “desire to improve one’s well-being in this life or the next.” Bernstein’s chronicles reveal the huge cost and alarming implications of mass mania. He observes that if we can absorb the history and biology of this all-too-human phenomenon, we can recognize it more readily in our own time, and avoid its frequently dire impact.

A Splendid Exchange

A Splendid Exchange PDF Author: William L Bernstein
Publisher: Atlantic Books Ltd
ISBN: 178239074X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 650

Book Description
A Splendid Exchange tells the epic story of global commerce, from its prehistoric origins to the myriad crises confronting it today. It travels from the sugar rush that brought the British to Jamaica in the seventeenth century to our current debates over globalization, from the silk route between China and Rome in the second century to the rise and fall of the Portuguese monopoly in spices in the sixteenth. Throughout, William Bernstein examines how our age-old dependency on trade has contributed to our planet's agricultural bounty, stimulated intellectual and industrial progress and made us both prosperous and vulnerable.

The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern Work was Created

The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern Work was Created PDF Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN: 0071760806
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 433

Book Description
“Compact and immensely readable . . . a tour de force. Prepare to be amazed.” John C. Bogle, Founder and Former CEO, The Vanguard Group Bernstein is widely respected as author of the bestseller, The Intelligent Asset Allocator Identifies and explains the four conditions necessary for human progress

Summary of William J. Bernstein's A Splendid Exchange

Summary of William J. Bernstein's A Splendid Exchange PDF Author: Everest Media,
Publisher: Everest Media LLC
ISBN: 1669387844
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 62

Book Description
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The first silk merchants were Chinese merchants, who would pull a colorful swatch of silk from a pouch and show it to the lady of the house. The gods themselves could not resist: Isis was said to have draped herself in fine silk yielding diverse colors. #2 The Romans knew about Chinese silk, but they did not know China. They believed that silk grew directly on the mulberry tree, not realizing that the leaves were merely the worm's home and its food. The Romans also believed that silk was manufactured in two different countries: a northern one, Seres, reached by the dry route, and a southern one, Sinae, reached by water. #3 The most ordinary cargoes today span such distances with only a modest increase in price. The intercontinental transport of even bulk goods today seems so unremarkable because it is efficient. #4 Travel was faster, cheaper, safer, and more comfortable by ship than by land. However, travel was not without risk. Merchant ships provided corrupt government officials with easy targets.

The Great Tech Game

The Great Tech Game PDF Author: Anirudh Suri
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9354894283
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 424

Book Description
After agriculture, trade, industrialization, colonization and capitalism, technology is arguably the next big shaper of geopolitics in the world. It is increasingly a major determinant of the destiny of nations today and is creating a new set of winners and losers on the global stage. In The Great Tech Game, the author provides a coherent framework outlining the key drivers that will determine the ability of a nation to succeed in this technology-dominant era. He lays out a roadmap for how any country must develop its own strategic plan for success. Leaders must inculcate a new set of capabilities to understand and take advantage of these trends, and create enabling environments for their nations to not be left behind. A particularly challenging aspect will be the ability of countries to define and manage the roles of state and non-state actors in a global race for technological leadership and success. The book goes on to evaluate whether digital colonialism is an inevitable reality, or whether new frameworks will emerge to govern relationships between technology-rich and technology-poor nations.

Trade Policy between Law, Diplomacy and Scholarship

Trade Policy between Law, Diplomacy and Scholarship PDF Author: Christoph Herrmann
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 331915690X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 418

Book Description
This book presents 22 topical contributions on international trade law and policy, with a particular focus on EU external trade law, addressing countries ranging from Ukraine to Switzerland and the US (TTIP) and aspects from trade and IPRs to anti-dumping. The volume constitutes a state-of-the-art treatment of the many facets of trade policy in the 21st century from legal, diplomatic and academic standpoints. The book is dedicated to the memory of Horst Günter Krenzler, former Director General for External Relations for the European Commission and Chief Negotiator for the European Union in many trade negotiations, honorary professor of European Union law at the University of Munich and an of counsel with Freshfields' Brussels office after retirement from the Commission.
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