The Big Ratchet
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| Author | : Ruth DeFries |
| Publisher | : Basic Books |
| Total Pages | : 289 |
| Release | : 2014-09-09 |
| Genre | : Science |
| ISBN | : 0465080936 |
How an ordinary mammal manipulated nature to become technologically sophisticated city-dwellers -- and why our history points to an optimistic future in the face of environmental crisis Our species long lived on the edge of starvation. Now we produce enough food for all 7 billion of us to eat nearly 3,000 calories every day. This is such an astonishing thing in the history of life as to verge on the miraculous. The Big Ratchet is the story of how it happened, of the ratchets -- the technologies and innovations, big and small -- that propelled our species from hunters and gatherers on the savannahs of Africa to shoppers in the aisles of the supermarket. The Big Ratchet itself came in the twentieth century, when a range of technologies -- from fossil fuels to scientific plant breeding to nitrogen fertilizers -- combined to nearly quadruple our population in a century, and to grow our food supply even faster. To some, these technologies are a sign of our greatness; to others, of our hubris. MacArthur fellow and Columbia University professor Ruth DeFries argues that the debate is the wrong one to have. Limits do exist, but every limit that has confronted us, we have surpassed. That cycle of crisis and growth is the story of our history; indeed, it is the essence of The Big Ratchet. Understanding it will reveal not just how we reached this point in our history, but how we might survive it.
| Author | : Ruth DeFries |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 290 |
| Release | : 2014-09-09 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 0465044972 |
"Our species' pervasive presence on the planet is the combined result of two powerful forces: earth's rich natural endowments and humanity's ability to manipulate nature. From our ability to control fire to our expertise in breeding palatable plants, from our capacity to ship fertilizer across the Atlantic to our skill in selectively tinkering with plant genomes, DeFries describes the ingenious manipulations of nature that have enabled humankind to nourish and flourish. Throughout history humans have been able to ratchet up populations, survive the hatchets that threaten the species, and pivot to a new strategy for survival."--Publisher information.
| Author | : Mike Cooper |
| Publisher | : Penguin |
| Total Pages | : 415 |
| Release | : 2013-07-03 |
| Genre | : Fiction |
| ISBN | : 1101622733 |
In Die Hard style, Silas Cade takes his atypical brand of "auditing" from Wall Street to Main Street Fans of Lee Child's Jack Reacher and Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp will want to add Silas Cade to their lineup. Cade, the tough-guy auditor antihero introduced in Clawback, employs a brand of financial reform that comes with plenty of firepower. Needing a respite from Wall Street, Cade jumps at a job opportunity in western Pennsylvania—but finds that Main Street is just as dirty. The job seems easy enough—check out a Pittsburgh manufacturer and file a report—but Cade quickly discovers corruption at every level. His revelations catch the attentions of hair-trigger Russian mobsters and a blonde assassin named Harmony. Cade’s estranged brother is dragged into the fray as the tension builds to bullet-riddled showdowns across defunct steel mills, forests, and Appalachian fracking fields. Cooper again delivers a timely plot involving Wall Street greed, financial corruption, and the plight of blue-collar workers.
| Author | : Nancy J. Cavanaugh |
| Publisher | : Sourcebooks, Inc. |
| Total Pages | : 322 |
| Release | : 2013-04-02 |
| Genre | : Juvenile Fiction |
| ISBN | : 1402281080 |
Move over Diary of a Wimpy Kid—there's a new journal in town and it belongs to Ratchet. "A book that is full of surprises...Triumphant enough to make readers cheer; touching enough to make them cry." —Kirkus, STARRED Review If only getting a new life were as easy as getting a new notebook. But it's not. It's the first day of school for all the kids in the neighborhood. But not for me. I'm homeschooled. That means nothing new. No new book bag, no new clothes, and no new friends. The best I've got is this notebook. I'm supposed to use it for my writing assignments, but my dad never checks. Here's what I'm really going to use it for: Ratchet's Top Secret Plan Turn my old, recycled, freakish, friendless life into something shiny and new. This Florida State Book Award gold medal winner is a heartfelt story about an unconventional girl's quest to make a friend, save a park, and find her own definition of normal.
| Author | : Peter M. Hoffmann |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 290 |
| Release | : 2012-10-30 |
| Genre | : Science |
| ISBN | : 0465022537 |
Life, Hoffman argues, emerges from the random motions of atoms filtered through the sophisticated structures of our evolved machinery. People are essentially giant assemblies of interacting nanoscale machines.
| Author | : Ashley & JaQuavis |
| Publisher | : St. Martin's Griffin |
| Total Pages | : 239 |
| Release | : 2017-07-25 |
| Genre | : Fiction |
| ISBN | : 1466874910 |
The saga of love, loyalty, and crime continues in the next explosive book in the Cartel series from the minds of New York Times bestselling authors Ashley & JaQuavis. After the tragic and bloody end to The Cartel’s reign, Carter is forced into isolation to evade the law. With his wife, Miamor, facing federal charges and his dear brother, six feet under, Carter has never been more alone. His empire is at his feet and he has no idea how to rebuild his kingdom. The only thing that is certain is that he has to stay out the way and off the radar of the Feds until he can figure out how to get his lady out of prison. Miamor’s freedom is guaranteed—provided Carter help create and distribute a drug that will take the streets by storm. Rubbing elbows with the most notorious, ruthless leaders of the underworld will get him what he wants. But can he win at their game of murder and money?
| Author | : Polly Horvath |
| Publisher | : Macmillan + ORM |
| Total Pages | : 178 |
| Release | : 2003-05-07 |
| Genre | : Young Adult Fiction |
| ISBN | : 1429965096 |
Love under trying circumstances One night out of the blue, Ratchet Clark's ill-natured mother tells her that Ratchet will be leaving their Pensacola apartment momentarily to take the train up north. There she will spend the summer with her aged relatives Penpen and Tilly, inseparable twins who couldn't look more different from each other. Staying at their secluded house, Ratchet is treated to a passel of strange family history and local lore, along with heaps of generosity and care that she has never experienced before. Also, Penpen has recently espoused a new philosophy – whatever shows up on your doorstep you have to let in. Through thick wilderness, down forgotten, bear-ridden roads, come a variety of characters, drawn to Penpen and Tilly's open door. It is with vast reservations that the cautious Tilly allows these unwelcome guests in. But it turns out that unwelcome guests may bring the greatest gifts. By turns dark and humorous, Polly Horvath offers adolescent readers enough quirky characters and outrageous situations to leave them reeling! The Canning Season is the winner of the 2003 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
| Author | : Christopher Emdin |
| Publisher | : Beacon Press |
| Total Pages | : 264 |
| Release | : 2021-08-10 |
| Genre | : Education |
| ISBN | : 0807089516 |
A revolutionary new educational model that encourages educators to provide spaces for students to display their academic brilliance without sacrificing their identities Building on the ideas introduced in his New York Times best-selling book, For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood, Christopher Emdin introduces an alternative educational model that will help students (and teachers) celebrate ratchet identity in the classroom. Ratchetdemic advocates for a new kind of student identity—one that bridges the seemingly disparate worlds of the ivory tower and the urban classroom. Because modern schooling often centers whiteness, Emdin argues, it dismisses ratchet identity (the embodying of “negative” characteristics associated with lowbrow culture, often thought to be possessed by people of a particular ethnic, racial, or socioeconomic status) as anti-intellectual and punishes young people for straying from these alleged “academic norms,” leaving young people in classrooms frustrated and uninspired. These deviations, Emdin explains, include so-called “disruptive behavior” and a celebration of hip-hop music and culture. Emdin argues that being “ratchetdemic,” or both ratchet and academic (like having rap battles about science, for example), can empower students to embrace themselves, their backgrounds, and their education as parts of a whole, not disparate identities. This means celebrating protest, disrupting the status quo, and reclaiming the genius of youth in the classroom.
| Author | : Rashima Wilson |
| Publisher | : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform |
| Total Pages | : 106 |
| Release | : 2015-11-17 |
| Genre | : |
| ISBN | : 9781519340337 |
Raised dirt poor in one of the worst parts of town, La-La is determined not end up like the generations of her family before her: a mother when she's barely in her teens, getting caught up in the drug game, or just plain stuck living hand-to-mouth in the projects for the rest of her life. She's got big dreams, not to mention the rare combination of a sharp mind, runway model looks, and a killer bod, all of which she plan on using to get the hell out of the ghetto. But even the best laid plans have a habit of going to pieces - especially in the hood. La-La finds that out firsthand when her ambitions cause her to cross paths with Dre, a much more worldly (and older) man than the scrubs she's used to dealing with. Showered with gifts and attention, La-La consciously chooses to overlook the strings that come attached to Dre's affection - namely, that he is a man with dangerous ties and associates. Forced outside her comfort zone, La-La finds herself getting caught up in Dre's world. Even worse, her normally good judgment is being impaired by both her desire for the finer things in life and her growing physical needs as she struggles to answer one question: is what she and Dre have real and worth risking everything for, or is he simply using her the way she had planned on using him?
| Author | : Sean Carroll |
| Publisher | : Penguin |
| Total Pages | : 482 |
| Release | : 2016-05-10 |
| Genre | : Science |
| ISBN | : 0698409760 |
The instant New York Times bestseller about humanity's place in the universe—and how we understand it. “Vivid...impressive....Splendidly informative.”—The New York Times “Succeeds spectacularly.”—Science “A tour de force.”—Salon Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on Higgs bosons and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions: Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void? Do human purpose and meaning fit into a scientific worldview? In short chapters filled with intriguing historical anecdotes, personal asides, and rigorous exposition, readers learn the difference between how the world works at the quantum level, the cosmic level, and the human level—and then how each connects to the other. Carroll's presentation of the principles that have guided the scientific revolution from Darwin and Einstein to the origins of life, consciousness, and the universe is dazzlingly unique. Carroll shows how an avalanche of discoveries in the past few hundred years has changed our world and what really matters to us. Our lives are dwarfed like never before by the immensity of space and time, but they are redeemed by our capacity to comprehend it and give it meaning. The Big Picture is an unprecedented scientific worldview, a tour de force that will sit on shelves alongside the works of Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Daniel Dennett, and E. O. Wilson for years to come.
