The Map of the System of Human Knowledge

The Map of the System of Human Knowledge
Author: James Tadd Adcox
Publisher: CCM Tiny Hardcore
Total Pages:
Release: 2016-09-30
Genre:
ISBN: 9780998070162

The Map of the System of Human Knowledge is a short encyclopedia, full of entries that waver between fiction and memoir, poetry and prose, realism and irrealism. Construction workers build Indiana's first official mountain. The entrails of vacuum cleaners are examined for hints of a dark future. Gift shops are burned down, rebuilt, burned down once again. New forms of fathers appear. A man builds his wife a womb to protect her from the cold while she bakes their daughter. Entries end, almost inevitably, not on what we know, but on what we cannot know. The Map of the System of Human Knowledge is about everything, is about the need to put what we know in order, is about how orders break down. Is about how any encyclopedia must be incomplete. The map of the system of human knowledge is, by necessity, incomplete.

The Book of Trees

The Book of Trees
Author: Manuel Lima
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2014-04-08
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9781616892180

Our critically acclaimed bestseller Visual Complexity was the first in-depth examination of the burgeoning field of information visualization. Particularly noteworthy are the numerous historical examples of past efforts to make sense of complex systems of information. In this new companion volume, The Book of Trees, data viz expert Manuel Lima examines the more than eight hundred year history of the tree diagram, from its roots in the illuminated manuscripts of medieval monasteries to its current resurgence as an elegant means of visualization. Lima presents two hundred intricately detailed tree diagram illustrations on a remarkable variety of subjects—from some of the earliest known examples from ancient Mesopotamia to the manuscripts of medieval monasteries to contributions by leading contemporary designers. A timeline of capsule biographies on key figures in the development of the tree diagram rounds out this one-of-a-kind visual compendium.

Space, Time and the Limits of Human Understanding

Space, Time and the Limits of Human Understanding
Author: Shyam Wuppuluri
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 524
Release: 2016-12-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319444182

In this compendium of essays, some of the world’s leading thinkers discuss their conceptions of space and time, as viewed through the lens of their own discipline. With an epilogue on the limits of human understanding, this volume hosts contributions from six or more diverse fields. It presumes only rudimentary background knowledge on the part of the reader. Time and again, through the prism of intellect, humans have tried to diffract reality into various distinct, yet seamless, atomic, yet holistic, independent, yet interrelated disciplines and have attempted to study it contextually. Philosophers debate the paradoxes, or engage in meditations, dialogues and reflections on the content and nature of space and time. Physicists, too, have been trying to mold space and time to fit their notions concerning micro- and macro-worlds. Mathematicians focus on the abstract aspects of space, time and measurement. While cognitive scientists ponder over the perceptual and experiential facets of our consciousness of space and time, computer scientists theoretically and practically try to optimize the space-time complexities in storing and retrieving data/information. The list is never-ending. Linguists, logicians, artists, evolutionary biologists, geographers etc., all are trying to weave a web of understanding around the same duo. However, our endeavour into a world of such endless imagination is restrained by intellectual dilemmas such as: Can humans comprehend everything? Are there any limits? Can finite thought fathom infinity? We have sought far and wide among the best minds to furnish articles that provide an overview of the above topics. We hope that, through this journey, a symphony of patterns and tapestry of intuitions will emerge, providing the reader with insights into the questions: What is Space? What is Time? Chapter [15] of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.