George Basalla's Books

The Evolution of Technology

By: George Basalla

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This book presents an evolutionary theory of technological change based upon recent scholarship in the history of technology and upon relevant material drawn from economic history and anthropology. It challenges the popular notion that technology advances by the efforts of a few heroic individuals who produce a series of revolutionary inventions owing little or nothing to the technological past. Therefore, the book's argument is shaped by analogies taken selectively from the theory of organic evolution, and not from the theory and practice of political revolution. Three themes appear, and reappear with variations, throughout the study. The first is diversity: an acknowledgment of the vast numbers of different kinds of made things (artifacts) that have long been available to humanity; the second is necessity: the belief that humans are driven to invent new artifacts in order to meet basic biological requirements such as food, shelter, and defense; and the third is technological evolution: an organic analogy that explains both the emergence of novel artifacts and their subsequent selection by society for incorporation into its material life without invoking either biological necessity or technological progress. Although the book is not intended to provide a strict chronological account of the development of technology, historical examples - including many of the major achievements of Western technology: the waterwheel, the printing press, the steam engine, automobiles and trucks, and the transistor - are used extensively to support its theoretical framework. The Evolution of Techology will be of interest to all readers seeking to learn how and why technology changes, including both students and specialists in the history of technology and science.

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Page Count

262

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1316101584

ISBN 13

9781316101582

Civilized Life in the Universe

Scientists on Intelligent Extraterrestrials

By: George Basalla

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Civilized Life in the Universe

Scientists on Intelligent Extraterrestrials

By: George Basalla

This book is a selective and fascinating history of scientific speculation about intelligent extraterrestrial life. From Plutarch to Stephen Hawking, some of the most prominent western scientists have had quite detailed perceptions and misperceptions about alien civilizations: Johannes Kepler, fresh from transforming astronomy with his work on the shape of planetary orbits, was quite sure alien engineers on the moon were excavating circular pits to provide shelter; Christiaan Huygens, the most prominent physical scientist between Galileo and Newton, dismissed Kepler's speculations, but used the laws of probability to prove that "planetarians" on other worlds are much like humans, and had developed a sense of the visual arts; Carl Sagan sees clearly that Huygens is a biological chauvinist, but doesn't see as clearly that he, Sagan, may be a cultural/technological chauvinist when he assumes aliens have highly developed technology like ours, but better. Basalla traces the influence of one speculation on the next, showing an unbroken but twisting chain of ideas passed from one scientist to the next, and from science to popular culture. He even traces the influence of popular culture on science--Sagan always admitted how much E. R. Burroughs' Martian novels influenced his speculations about Mars. Throughout, Basalla weaves his theme that scientific belief in and search for extraterrestrial civilizations is a complex impulse, part secularized-religious, and part anthropomorphic. He questions the common modern scientific reasoning that life converges on intelligence, and intelligence converges on one science valid everywhere. He ends the book by agreeing with Stephen Hawking (usually a safe bet) that intelligence is overrated for survival in the universe, and that we are most likely alone.

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Page Count

248

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0190291400

ISBN 13

9780190291402

Defiant Diplomat George Platt Waller

American Consul in Nazi-occupied Luxembourg, 1939-1941

By: George Platt Waller

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Defiant Diplomat George Platt Waller

American Consul in Nazi-occupied Luxembourg, 1939-1941

By: George Platt Waller

American diplomat George Platt Waller's memoir of his experiences in Luxembourg from 1939-1941 reveals the plight of a small neutral country invaded by Nazi Germany. His vivid account of the response of Luxembourgers to war and occupation and his own efforts to help refugees offers a compelling story of witness and resistance to evil in the Second World War.

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Page Count

273

Publisher

Lexington Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1611493986

ISBN 13

9781611493986

Imperialism and Science

Social Impact and Interaction

By: George N. Vlahakis,Isabel Maria Coelho de Oliveira Malaquias,Nathan M. Brooks,M. Francois Regourd,Feza Gunergun,David Wright

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Imperialism and Science

Social Impact and Interaction

By: George N. Vlahakis,Isabel Maria Coelho de Oliveira Malaquias,Nathan M. Brooks,M. Francois Regourd,Feza Gunergun,David Wright

A unique resource that synthesizes existing primary and secondary sources to provide a fascinating introduction to the development and dissemination of science within history's great empires, as well as the complex interaction between imperialism and scientific progress over two centuries. Imperialism and Science is a scholarly yet accessible chronicle of the impact of imperialism on science over the past 200 years, from the effect of Catholicism on scientific progress in Latin America to the importance of U.S. government funding of scientific research to America's preeminent place in the world. Spanning two centuries of scientific advance throughout the age of empire, Imperialism and Science sheds new light on the spread of scientific thought throughout the former colonial world. Science made enormous advances during this period, often being associated with anti-Imperialist struggle or, as in the case of the science brought to 19th-century China and India by the British, with Western cultural hegemony.

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Page Count

399

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

1851096787

ISBN 13

9781851096787

The Paradoxes of High Stakes Testing

How They Affect Students, Their Parents, Teachers, Principals, Schools, and Society

By: Michael Russell,George Madaus,Jennifer Higgins

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The Paradoxes of High Stakes Testing

How They Affect Students, Their Parents, Teachers, Principals, Schools, and Society

By: Michael Russell,George Madaus,Jennifer Higgins

As a nation, we spend more than $1 billion a year on federally mandated educational tests that 30 million students must take each year. The country spends an additional $1.2 billion on test preparation materials designed to help students pass these tests. While test mandates were put in place with good intentions, increasingly educational leaders and policy makers are questioning these test based reform efforts. Some question whether these programs are doing more harm than good. Others call for the development of more and better tests. Given the vast amount of resources our nation pours into testing, is it time we pay closer attention to these testing programs? Is it time we hold the testing industry and policy makers accountable for the tests they make and use? Is it time we invest resources to develop new ways of testing our students? The Paradoxes of High-Stakes Testing explores these and other questions, as it helps parents, teachers, educational leaders, and policy makers better understand the complexities of educational policies that use tests as a lever for improving the quality of education. The book explores: >> how testing is used to enable teachers and schools to be more effective and improve student learning, >> why testing is so ingrained in the American psyche and why policy makers rely on testing policies to reform our educational system, >> what we can learn from a long history of test-based reform efforts that have occurred over centuries and across continents, >> what effects testing has on teaching and learning in our schools when it is used to solve political, social, or economic problems. Most importantly, the book describes several ways in which testing can be improved to provide more accurate and more useful measures of student learning. Many of these improvements capitalize on technology to provide teachers with more detailed, diagnostic information about student learning and measure skills that some leaders argue are essential for the 21st century work force. Exploring what is within reach is critical because current testing policies are hindering these improvements. Finally, given that testing is and will continue to be an integral part of our educational system, the book concludes that, like other sectors of our society, educational testing must be more closely monitored to ensure that high quality tests are used to measure student achievement and to minimize the negative effects that testing has on students, schools, and our society. Given the opportunity our nation has to rethink and redesign its testing policies, The Paradoxes of High-Stakes Testing presents a clear strategy to maximize the positive effects of educational testing.

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264

Publisher

IAP

Published Date

ISBN 10

1607529831

ISBN 13

9781607529835

States of Nature

Science, Agriculture, and Environment in the Spanish Caribbean, 1760-1940

By: Stuart George McCook

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States of Nature

Science, Agriculture, and Environment in the Spanish Caribbean, 1760-1940

By: Stuart George McCook

The process of nation-building in Latin America transformed the relations between the state, the economy, and nature. Between 1760 and 1940, the economies of most countries in the Spanish Caribbean came to depend heavily on the export of plant products, such as coffee, tobacco, and sugar. After the mid-nineteenth century, this model of export-led economic growth also became a central tenet of liberal projects of nation-building. As international competition grew and commodity prices fell over this period, Latin American growers strove to remain competitive by increasing agricultural production. By the turn of the twentieth century, their pursuit of export-led growth had generated severe environmental problems, including soil exhaustion, erosion, and epidemic outbreaks of crop diseases and pests. This book traces the history of the intersections between nature, economy, and nation in the Spanish Caribbean through a history of the agricultural and botanical sciences. Growers and governments in Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Colombia, and Costa Rica turned to scientists to help them establish practical and ideological control over nature. They hoped to use science to alleviate the pressing environmental and economic stresses, without having to give up their commitment to export-led growth. Starting from an overview of the relationship among science, nature, and development throughout the export boom of 1760 to 1930, Stuart McCook examines such topics as the relationship between scientific plant surveys and nation-building, the development of a "creole science" to address the problems of tropical agriculture, the ecological rationalization of the sugar industry, and the growth of technocratic ideologies of science and progress. He concludes with a look at how the Great Depression of the 1930s changed the paradigms of economic and political development and the role of science and nature in these paradigms.

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Page Count

224

Publisher

University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0292788185

ISBN 13

9780292788183

Realism, Ethics and Secularism

Essays on Victorian Literature and Science

By: George Levine

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Realism, Ethics and Secularism

Essays on Victorian Literature and Science

By: George Levine

George Levine is one of the world's leading scholars of Victorian literature and culture. This collection of his essays develops the key themes of his work: the intersection of nineteenth-century British literature, culture and science and the relation of knowledge and truth to ethics. The essays offer perspectives on George Eliot, Thackeray, the Positivists, and the Scientific Naturalists, and reassess the complex relationship between Ruskin and Darwin. In readings of Lawrence and Coetzee, Levine addresses Victorian and modern efforts to push beyond the limits of realist art by testing its aesthetic and epistemological limits in engagement with the self and the other. Some of Levine's most important contributions to the field are reprinted, in revised and updated form, alongside previously unpublished material. Together, these essays cohere into an exploration both of Victorian literature and culture and of ethical, epistemological, and aesthetic problems fundamental to our own times.

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Page Count

295

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1139474650

ISBN 13

9781139474658

The Evolution of Technology

By: George Basalla

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The Evolution of Technology

By: George Basalla

Three emerging themes challenge the popular notion that technology advances through the efforts of a few who produce a series of revolutionary inventions that owe little or nothing to the technological past.

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Page Count

264

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521296811

ISBN 13

9780521296816

Civilized Life in the Universe

Scientists on Intelligent Extraterrestrials

By: George Basalla

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Civilized Life in the Universe

Scientists on Intelligent Extraterrestrials

By: George Basalla

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248

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198038356

ISBN 13

9780198038351

Memoir of the Rev. George Burder

By: Henry Forster Burder,George Burder

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Memoir of the Rev. George Burder

By: Henry Forster Burder,George Burder

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

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Page Count

426

Publisher

Wentworth Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0530757400

ISBN 13

9780530757407

The Works of George Bull, Lord Bishop of St. David's

By: Bull George

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The Works of George Bull, Lord Bishop of St. David's

By: Bull George

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344

Publisher

Wentworth Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0526427019

ISBN 13

9780526427017

Memoirs of George Whitehead, a Minister of the Gospel in the Society of Friends: Being the Substance of the Account of His Life

By: Samuel Tuke,George Whitehead

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Memoirs of George Whitehead, a Minister of the Gospel in the Society of Friends: Being the Substance of the Account of His Life

By: Samuel Tuke,George Whitehead

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352

Publisher

Palala Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1378592514

ISBN 13

9781378592519

A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings with George M?

By: George Muller

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A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings with George M?

By: George Muller

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

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Page Count

428

Publisher

Pinnacle Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

137499216X

ISBN 13

9781374992160

Book's by George Basalla

The Evolution of Technology

The Evolution of Technology

Civilized Life in the Universe

Civilized Life in the Universe

Defiant Diplomat George Platt Waller

Defiant Diplomat George Platt Waller

Imperialism and Science

Imperialism and Science

The Paradoxes of High Stakes Testing

The Paradoxes of High Stakes Testing

States of Nature

States of Nature

Realism, Ethics and Secularism

Realism, Ethics and Secularism

The Evolution of Technology

The Evolution of Technology

Civilized Life in the Universe

Civilized Life in the Universe

Memoir of the Rev. George Burder

Memoir of the Rev. George Burder

The Works of George Bull, Lord Bishop of St. David's

The Works of George Bull, Lord Bishop of St. David's

Memoirs of George Whitehead, a Minister of the Gospel in the Society of Friends: Being the Substance of the Account of His Life

Memoirs of George Whitehead, a Minister of the Gospel in the Society of Friends: Being the Substance of the Account of His Life

A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings with George M?

A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings with George M?

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