Robert Pinker's Books

Social Policy and Welfare Pluralism

Selected Writings of Robert Pinker

By: John Offer,Robert Pinker

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Social Policy and Welfare Pluralism

Selected Writings of Robert Pinker

By: John Offer,Robert Pinker

Robert Pinker has written extensively on social policy matters since the early 1960s. His distinct approach to understanding concepts such as welfare pluralism is of particular relevance today as welfare pluralism remains an essential component of the policy mix, giving people access to a greater range and diversity of statutory, voluntary, and private sector services than unitary models of welfare provide. Social Policy and Welfare Pluralism presents the first collection of Robert Pinker’s essays in one edited volume. It includes essays on the ways in which welfare theories and ideologies and public expectations have influenced and shaped the political processes of policy making. Other essays focus on clarifying some of the key concepts that underpin the study of social policy. Pinker also reviews the extent to which the United Kingdom has succeeded in creating a ‘policy mix’ in which normative compromises are negotiated between the claims of market individualism and public sector collectivism. The concluding chapter by Robert Pinker reviews the prospects for social policy in the UK over the next five years.

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521

Publisher

Policy Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

144733535X

ISBN 13

9781447335351

Stigma

By: Robert M. Page

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Stigma

By: Robert M. Page

Although references to stigma were commonplace in the field of social policy and elsewhere, the concept was often used in a rather imprecise way. Originally published in 1984, this book assesses the relevance of the concept of stigma for the study of social policy. Investigations of the concept within the welfare field have tended to be far too narrow in focus (i.e. the concept has been regarded as a technical problem which can be eradicated by greater adherence to the principle of universalism). As a counter to this perspective, Robert Page argues that it is necessary to distinguish much more clearly between various aspects of the concept of stigma (e.g. stigmas, stigmatization and felt stigma). He examines the reasons why, and the ways in which, one particular ‘welfare’ group – unmarried mothers – have been stigmatized over the centuries in order to highlight the importance of examining existing patterns of ‘welfare’ and other forms of stigmatization within their political, economic, social and historical context. It is concluded that stigma will continue to be a key concept for both students and practitioners within the field of social policy provided that it is examined from this wider perspective.

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222

Publisher

Psychology Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317530284

ISBN 13

9781317530282

Crippled at the Starting Gate

The Graduate Schools Created and Perpetuate the Gender Gap in Science and Engineering

By: Robert Leslie Fisher

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Crippled at the Starting Gate

The Graduate Schools Created and Perpetuate the Gender Gap in Science and Engineering

By: Robert Leslie Fisher

In Crippled at the Starting Gate, Robert Leslie Fisher argues that the United States needs an education bill, much like the G.I. Bill passed after World War II, to send more Americans to graduate school in the sciences and engineering. Equally important, the graduate schools need to change their culture not only to recruit more women, African-Americans, and Latinos into science, but to promote them to senior faculty positions. Accomplishing these changes in university science and engineering departments will be challenging since the institutions have a strong propensity to recruit white males similar to the overwhelmingly white male senior faculty. In Making Science Fair (2007), Fisher urged new productivity metrics to assure that more women can advance in science. Now Fisher urges ending burdensome educational practices including requiring women and foreign graduate students to teach under-graduates, which adversely affects both the graduate students and the undergraduates.

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226

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University Press of America

Published Date

ISBN 10

0761849122

ISBN 13

9780761849124

Wodehouse

A Life

By: Robert McCrum

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Wodehouse

A Life

By: Robert McCrum

He had an extraordinary Broadway career, wrote 90 novels and story collections, and among his immortal characters are Jeeves and the Empress of Blandings. McCrum's magisterial biography chronicles the achievements and shadows of a gilded life.

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578

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W. W. Norton & Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

0393051595

ISBN 13

9780393051599

Evolution Science and Ethics in the Third Millennium

Challenges and Choices for Humankind

By: Robert Cliquet,Dragana Avramov

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Evolution Science and Ethics in the Third Millennium

Challenges and Choices for Humankind

By: Robert Cliquet,Dragana Avramov

The book aims to revitalise the interdisciplinary debate about evolutionary ethics and substantiate the idea that evolution science can provide a rational and robust framework for understanding morality. It also traces pathways for knowledge-based choices to be made about directions for future long-term biological evolution and cultural development in view of adaptation to the expected, probable and possible future and the ecological sustainability of our planetary environment The authors discuss ethical challenges associated with the major biosocial sources of human variation: individual variation, inter-personal variation, inter-group variation, and inter-generational variation. This book approaches the long-term challenges of the human species in a holistic way. Researchers will find an extensive discussion of the key theoretical scientific aspects of the relationship between evolution and morality. Policy makers will find information that can help them better understand from where we are coming and inspire them to make choices and take actions in a longer-term perspective. The general public will find food for thoughts.

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545

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Springer

Published Date

ISBN 10

3319730908

ISBN 13

9783319730905

Rethinking Serial Murder, Spree Killing, and Atrocities

Beyond the Usual Distinctions

By: Robert Shanafelt,Nathan W. Pino

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Rethinking Serial Murder, Spree Killing, and Atrocities

Beyond the Usual Distinctions

By: Robert Shanafelt,Nathan W. Pino

Multiple killings by serial or spree killers and the mass violence seen in war crimes and other atrocities have typically been understood as discrete category types, which can foster the view that there are fundamentally different kinds of human beings, including "deviants" who are born evil and innately given to sadism or a callous lack of empathy. In contrast, this book considers the violence of these "deviants" in terms of larger questions about human violence. Therefore, in addition to describing the life histories of a sample of individual serial and spree murderers, the book includes analysis of macro-level phenomena such as genocide, mass rape and killing, and torture occurring under conditions of war, state authorization, or political upheaval. The chief claim of the book is that, given the "right" combination of factors occurring at different levels of analysis, virtually anyone can emerge as a killer or perpetrator of atrocities. While it is crucial to understand individual killers in terms of the details of their biographies, it is equally crucial to understand political atrocities in terms of the details of their histories; and to see that persons and groups are always the product of complexly interacting assemblage processes.

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205

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317564685

ISBN 13

9781317564683

Psychoanalyzing the Politics of the New Brain Sciences

By: Robert Samuels

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Psychoanalyzing the Politics of the New Brain Sciences

By: Robert Samuels

This book argues that neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and behavioral economics often function as a political ideology masquerading as a new science. In looking at works by Antonio Damasio, Steven Pinker, Richard Thaler, Cas Sunstein, and John Tooby, Robert Samuels undertakes a close reading of the new brain sciences, and by turning to the works of Freud and Lacan, offers a counter-discourse to these new emerging sciences. He argues that an unintentional political manipulation of scientific thinking serves to repress the psychoanalytic conception of the unconscious and sexuality as it reinforces neoliberalism and promotes the drugging of discontent. This innovative book is intended for those interested in science, psychoanalysis, and politics and offers a new definition of neoliberal subjectivity.

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145

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Springer

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ISBN 10

3319718916

ISBN 13

9783319718910

Educating Inequality

Beyond the Political Myths of Higher Education and the Job Market

By: Robert Samuels

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Educating Inequality

Beyond the Political Myths of Higher Education and the Job Market

By: Robert Samuels

Exploring topics such as the fairness of the current social system, the focus on individual competition in an unequal society, and democracy and capitalism in higher education, this important book seeks to uncover the major myths that shape how people view higher education and its relation to the economy.

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197

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351619497

ISBN 13

9781351619493

Behave

The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

By: Robert M. Sapolsky

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Behave

The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

By: Robert M. Sapolsky

New York Times bestseller • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • One of the Washington Post's 10 Best Books of the Year “It’s no exaggeration to say that Behave is one of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read.” —David P. Barash, The Wall Street Journal "It has my vote for science book of the year.” —Parul Sehgal, The New York Times "Immensely readable, often hilarious...Hands-down one of the best books I’ve read in years. I loved it." —Dina Temple-Raston, The Washington Post From the bestselling author of A Primate's Memoir and the forthcoming Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will comes a landmark, genre-defining examination of human behavior and an answer to the question: Why do we do the things we do? Behave is one of the most dazzling tours d’horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted. Moving across a range of disciplines, Sapolsky—a neuroscientist and primatologist—uncovers the hidden story of our actions. Undertaking some of our thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, and war and peace, Behave is a towering achievement—a majestic synthesis of cutting-edge research and a heroic exploration of why we ultimately do the things we do . . . for good and for ill.

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801

Publisher

Penguin

Published Date

ISBN 10

0143110918

ISBN 13

9780143110910

Teaching Writing, Rhetoric, and Reason at the Globalizing University

By: Robert Samuels

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Teaching Writing, Rhetoric, and Reason at the Globalizing University

By: Robert Samuels

This timely intervention into composition studies presents a case for the need to teach all students a shared system of communication and logic based on the modern globalizing ideals of universality, neutrality, and empiricism. Based on a series of close readings of contemporary writing by Stanley Fish, Asao Inoue, Doug Downs and Elizabeth Wardle, Richard Rorty, Slavoj Zizek, and Steven Pinker, this book critiques recent arguments that traditional approaches to teaching writing, grammar, and argumentation foster marginalization, oppression, and the restriction of student agency. Instead, it argues that the best way to educate and empower a diverse global student body is to promote a mode of academic discourse dedicated to the impartial judgment of empirical facts communicated in an open and clear manner. It provides a critical analysis of core topics in composition studies, including the teaching of grammar; notions of objectivity and neutrality; empiricism and pragmatism; identity politics; and postmodernism. Aimed at graduate students and junior instructors in rhetoric and composition, as well as more seasoned scholars and program administrators, this polemical book provides an accessible staging of key debates that all writing instructors must grapple with.

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123

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Routledge

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ISBN 10

1000259943

ISBN 13

9781000259940

The Psychoanalytic Understanding of Consciousness, Free Will, Language, and Reason

What Makes Us Human?

By: Robert Samuels

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The Psychoanalytic Understanding of Consciousness, Free Will, Language, and Reason

What Makes Us Human?

By: Robert Samuels

The Psychoanalytic Understanding of Consciousness, Free Will, Language, and Reason examines the ways in which we can use psychoanalysis in order to better understand humanity and explores the question of what makes us human. For thousands of years, thinkers have been trying to define what makes us human. Some of the main questions they have asked is: What is consciousness? Do we have free will? Do animals use language? And what does reason mean? Samuels argues that we need to better understand the psychoanalytic approach to human nature in order to answer these questions, as well as using it to provide a new way of understanding issues such as addiction, political conflict, ideology, and destructive personal relationship. This book will be of vital interest to psychotherapists, as well as students and researchers across the fields of psychoanalysis, philosophy, and psychology.

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Taylor & Francis

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ISBN 10

1000880184

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9781000880182

The Extended Mind

The Emergence of Language, the Human Mind, and Culture

By: Robert K. Logan

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The Extended Mind

The Emergence of Language, the Human Mind, and Culture

By: Robert K. Logan

The ability to communicate through language is such a fundamental part of human existence that we often take it for granted, rarely considering how sophisticated the process is by which we understand and make ourselves understood. In The Extended Mind, acclaimed author Robert K. Logan examines the origin, emergence, and co-evolution of language, the human mind, and culture. Building on his previous study, The Sixth Language (2000) and making use of emergence theory, Logan seeks to explain how language emerged to deal with the complexity of hominid existence brought about by tool-making, control of fire, social intelligence, coordinated hunting and gathering, and mimetic communication. The resulting emergence of language, he argues, signifies a fundamental change in the functioning of the human mind - a shift from percept-based thought to concept-based thought. From the perspective of the Extended Mind model, Logan provides an alternative to and critique of Noam Chomsky's approach to the origin of language. He argues that language can be treated as an organism that evolved to be easily acquired, obviating the need for the hard-wiring of Chomsky's Language Acquisition Device. In addition Logan shows how, according to this model, culture itself can be treated as an organism that has evolved to be easily attained, revealing the universality of human culture as well as providing an insight as to how altruism might have originated. Bringing timely insights to a fascinating field of inquiry, The Extended Mind will be sure to find a wide readership.

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329

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University of Toronto Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1442691808

ISBN 13

9781442691803

Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted Psychology

By: Robert C. Richardson

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Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted Psychology

By: Robert C. Richardson

A philosopher subjects the claims of evolutionary psychology to the evidential and methodological requirements of evolutionary biology, concluding that evolutionary psychology's explanations amount to speculation disguised as results. Human beings, like other organisms, are the products of evolution. Like other organisms, we exhibit traits that are the product of natural selection. Our psychological capacities are evolved traits as much as are our gait and posture. This much few would dispute. Evolutionary psychology goes further than this, claiming that our psychological traits—including a wide variety of traits, from mate preference and jealousy to language and reason—can be understood as specific adaptations to ancestral Pleistocene conditions. In Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted Psychology, Robert Richardson takes a critical look at evolutionary psychology by subjecting its ambitious and controversial claims to the same sorts of methodological and evidential constraints that are broadly accepted within evolutionary biology. The claims of evolutionary psychology may pass muster as psychology; but what are their evolutionary credentials? Richardson considers three ways adaptive hypotheses can be evaluated, using examples from the biological literature to illustrate what sorts of evidence and methodology would be necessary to establish specific evolutionary and adaptive explanations of human psychological traits. He shows that existing explanations within evolutionary psychology fall woefully short of accepted biological standards. The theories offered by evolutionary psychologists may identify traits that are, or were, beneficial to humans. But gauged by biological standards, there is inadequate evidence: evolutionary psychologists are largely silent on the evolutionary evidence relevant to assessing their claims, including such matters as variation in ancestral populations, heritability, and the advantage offered to our ancestors. As evolutionary claims they are unsubstantiated. Evolutionary psychology, Richardson concludes, may offer a program of research, but it lacks the kind of evidence that is generally expected within evolutionary biology. It is speculation rather than sound science—and we should treat its claims with skepticism.

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227

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MIT Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0262261111

ISBN 13

9780262261111

Linguistics

An Introduction to Language and Communication

By: Adrian Akmajian,Richard A. Demer,Ann K. Farmer,Robert M. Harnish

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Linguistics

An Introduction to Language and Communication

By: Adrian Akmajian,Richard A. Demer,Ann K. Farmer,Robert M. Harnish

Linguistics: an introduction to language and communication.

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628

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MIT Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0262511231

ISBN 13

9780262511230

An Introduction to Theory in Anthropology

By: Robert Layton

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An Introduction to Theory in Anthropology

By: Robert Layton

In this innovative introduction, Robert Layton reviews the ideas that have inspired anthropologists in their studies of societies around the world. An Introduction to Theory in Anthropology provides a clear and concise analysis of the theories, and traces the way in which they have been translated into anthropological debates. The opening chapter sets out the classical theoretical issues formulated by Hobbes, Rousseau, Marx and Durkheim. Successive chapters discuss Functionalism, Structuralism, Interactionist theories, and Marxist anthropology, while the final chapters address the competing paradigms of Socioecology and Postmodernism. Using detailed case studies, Professor Layton illustrates the way in which various theoretical perspectives have shaped competing, or complementary, accounts of specific human societies.

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258

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Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521629829

ISBN 13

9780521629829

Intelligence Analysis

A Target-Centric Approach

By: Robert M. Clark

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Intelligence Analysis

A Target-Centric Approach

By: Robert M. Clark

Robert M. Clark’s Intelligence Analysis: A Target-Centric Approach demonstrates that a collaborative, target-centric approach leads to sharper and more effective analysis, while better meeting the needs of the customer. Thoroughly revised to reflect the changes in the constantly shifting landscape of intelligence, the Fifth Edition contains a new chapter that frames the nature of intelligence in 21st century conflict. The book also accounts for recent events such as the rise of ISIL and the conflict in Ukraine, and contains new examples throughout. Clark’s practical information and insider perspective create the perfect resource for students and practitioners alike.

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533

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CQ Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1506316794

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9781506316796

Toward a Unified Criminology

Integrating Assumptions about Crime, People and Society

By: Robert Agnew

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Toward a Unified Criminology

Integrating Assumptions about Crime, People and Society

By: Robert Agnew

Why do people commit crimes? How do we control crime? The theories that criminologists use to answer these questions are built on a number of underlying assumptions, including those about the nature of crime, free will, human nature, and society. These assumptions have a fundamental impact on criminology: they largely determine what criminologists study, the causes they examine, the control strategies they recommend, and how they test their theories and evaluate crime-control strategies. In Toward a Unified Criminology, noted criminologist Robert Agnew provides a critical examination of these assumptions, drawing on a range of research and perspectives to argue that these assumptions are too restrictive, unduly limiting the types of "crime" that are explored, the causes that are considered, and the methods of data collection and analysis that are employed. As such, they undermine our ability to explain and control crime. Agnew then proposes an alternative set of assumptions, drawing heavily on both mainstream and critical theories of criminology, with the goal of laying the foundation for a unified criminology that is better able to explain a broader range of crimes.

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264

Publisher

NYU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0814705278

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9780814705278

Freedom from Fear, Freedom from Want

An Introduction to Human Security

By: Robert J. Hanlon,Kenneth Christie

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Freedom from Fear, Freedom from Want

An Introduction to Human Security

By: Robert J. Hanlon,Kenneth Christie

Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, Freedom from Fear, Freedom from Want is a brief introduction to human security, conflict, and development. The book analyzes such key human security issues as climate change, crimes against humanity, humanitarian intervention, international law, poverty, terrorism, and transnational crime, among others. The authors encourage readers to critically assess emerging threats while evaluating potential mechanisms of deterrence such as conflict resolution, economic development, diplomacy, peacekeeping, international law, and restorative justice. Concise yet comprehensive, Freedom from Fear, Freedom from Want is an ideal text for human security courses.

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288

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University of Toronto Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1442609605

ISBN 13

9781442609600

The Accidental Homo Sapiens

Genetics, Behavior, and Free Will

By: Ian Tattersall,Robert DeSalle

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The Accidental Homo Sapiens

Genetics, Behavior, and Free Will

By: Ian Tattersall,Robert DeSalle

What happens now that human population has outpaced biological natural selection? Two leading scientists reveal how we became who we are—and what we might become. When we think of evolution, the image that likely comes to mind is the iconic, straight-forward image of a primate morphing into a human being. Yet random events have played huge roles in determining the evolutionary histories of everything from lobsters to humans. However, random genetic novelties are most likely to "stick" in small populations. It is mathematically unlikely to happen in large ones. With our enormous and seemingly inexorably expanding population, humanity has fallen under the influence of the famous (or infamous) “bell curve.” This revelatory new book explores what the future of our species could hold, while simultaneously revealing what we didn’t become—and what we won’t become. A cognitively unique species, our actions fall on a bell curve as well. Individuals may be saintly or evil, narrow-minded or visionary. But it is possible not just for the species, but for a person to be all of these things—even in a single day. We all fall somewhere within the giant hyperspace of the human condition that these curves describe. The Accidental Homo Sapiens shows readers that though humanity now exists on this bell curve, we are far from a stagnant species. Tattersall and DeSalle reveal how biological evolution in modern humans has given way to a cultural dynamic that is unlike anything else the Earth has ever witnessed, and that will keep life interesting—perhaps sometimes too interesting—for as long as we exist on this planet.

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229

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

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ISBN 10

1643131109

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9781643131108

Psychoanalysis and the Future of Global Politics

Overcoming Climate Change, Pandemics, War, and Poverty

By: Robert Samuels

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Psychoanalysis and the Future of Global Politics

Overcoming Climate Change, Pandemics, War, and Poverty

By: Robert Samuels

This book offers a unique approach by using psychoanalytic theory to explain how we can resolve the most important issues facing the world today and in the future. One of my main arguments is that we need to move beyond national politics in order to provide global solutions to global problems. However, there is a misplaced fear concerning global governance, and much of this phobia is derived from a misunderstanding of history and human psychology. Not only do we have to learn to give up our idealized investment in nations and nationalism, but we also have to move beyond seeing the world from the perspective of a victim fantasy. Since we often repress real signs of global progress, we experience the global present and the future in negative ways. To reverse this perspective, we need to first understand the incredible progress humans have made in the last two hundred years, but we also should not ignore the real threats we face.

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115

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Springer Nature

Published Date

ISBN 10

3031411668

ISBN 13

9783031411663

Without Copyrights

Piracy, Publishing, and the Public Domain

By: Robert Spoo

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Without Copyrights

Piracy, Publishing, and the Public Domain

By: Robert Spoo

Tells the story of how the clashes between authors, publishers, and literary "pirates" influenced both American copyright law and literature itself."--Dust jacket flap

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374

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0190469161

ISBN 13

9780190469160

Beethoven and the Grosse Fuge

Music, Meaning, and Beethoven's Most Difficult Work

By: Robert S. Kahn

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Beethoven and the Grosse Fuge

Music, Meaning, and Beethoven's Most Difficult Work

By: Robert S. Kahn

This book looks closely at both Beethoven and the Grosse Fuge, placing both in their historical and social contexts. It considers interesting questions about whether absolute music--music without words--can have meaning and speculates that some works of Western music can evoke synesthesia in listeners--a sense of motion through three-dimensional volumes of space. The author also speculates that Beethoven's long creative dry spell in his late 40s was caused by an extended bout with clinical depression.

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180

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

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ISBN 10

0810874180

ISBN 13

9780810874183

The Oxford Handbook of Applied Linguistics

By: Robert B. Kaplan

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The Oxford Handbook of Applied Linguistics

By: Robert B. Kaplan

The Oxford Handbook of Applied Linguistics contains 39 original chapters on a broad range of topics in applied linguistics by a diverse group of contributors. Its goal is to provide a comprehensive survey of the current state of the field, the many connections among its various sub-disciplines, and the likely directions of its future development. The Oxford Handbook of Applied Linguistics addresses a broad audience: applied linguists; educators and other scholars working in language acquisition, language learning, language planning, teaching, and testing; and linguists concerned with applications of their work. Systematically encompassing the major areas of applied linguistics-and drawing from a wide range of disciplines such as education, language policy, bi- and multi-lingualism, literacy, language and gender, neurobiology of language, psycholinguistics and cognition, language and computers, discourse analysis, language and concordances, ecology of language, pragmatics, translation, and many other fields, the editors and contributors to The Oxford Handbook of Applied Linguistics provide a panoramic and comprehensive look at this complex and vigorous field. This second edition includes five new chapters, and the remaining chapters have been thoroughly revised and updated to give a clear picture of the current state of applied linguistics.

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792

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Oxford University Press

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ISBN 10

0190452536

ISBN 13

9780190452537

The Money Nerve

Navigating the Emotions of Money

By: Robert Wm Wheeler Cpa

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The Money Nerve

Navigating the Emotions of Money

By: Robert Wm Wheeler Cpa

Helps to identify the underlying patterns of our relationship to money. By working through your money history you can form a healthier relationship to money and overcome the fears associated with it in all aspects of your life.

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157

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Balboa Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1452569401

ISBN 13

9781452569406

Deception

Counterdeception and Counterintelligence

By: Robert M. Clark,William L. Mitchell

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Deception

Counterdeception and Counterintelligence

By: Robert M. Clark,William L. Mitchell

Bridging the divide between theory and practice, Deception: Counterdeception and Counterintelligence provides a thorough overview of the principles of deception and its uses in intelligence operations.

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313

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CQ Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1506375243

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9781506375243

Hard Time

A Fresh Look at Understanding and Reforming the Prison

By: Robert Johnson,Ann Marie Rocheleau,Alison B. Martin

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Hard Time

A Fresh Look at Understanding and Reforming the Prison

By: Robert Johnson,Ann Marie Rocheleau,Alison B. Martin

Hard Time: A Fresh Look at Understanding and Reforming the Prison, 4th Edition, is a revised and updated version of the highly successful text addressing the origins, evolution, and promise of America’s penal system. Draws from both ethnographic and professional material, and situates the prison experience within both contemporary and historical contexts Features first person accounts from male and female inmates and staff, revealing what it’s actually like to live and work in prison Includes all-new chapters on prison reform and on supermax correctional facilities, including the latest research on confinement, long-term segregation, and death row Explores a wide range of topics, including the nature of prison as punishment; prisoner personality types and coping strategies; gang violence; prison officers’ custodial duties; and psychological, educational, and work programs Develops policy recommendations for the future based on qualitative and quantitative research and evidence-based initiatives

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435

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1119082811

ISBN 13

9781119082811

The Encyclopaedia of Evolution

By: Robert Newman

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The Encyclopaedia of Evolution

By: Robert Newman

In this witty, fact-packed A-Z, Newman takes the reader on a whirlwind tour from caring, sharing vampire bats to intelligent slime-mould; from pacifist baboons to Richard Dawkins wrestling naked with his postman; from the invisibility cloak of the Hawaiian bobtail squid to Francis ‘DNA’ Crick’s belief that life on earth began with alien spaceships. The only comedian ever credited in a paper published in the science journal Nature, Newman explores how stunning scientific breakthroughs have turned received ideas of evolution upsidedown. Now a BBC Radio 4 comedy series, the Entirely Accurate Encyclopaedia of Evolution is based on the stand up show Robert Newman’s New Theory of Evolution.

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184

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Cargo Publishing

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ISBN 10

191044961X

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9781910449615

Linguistics, seventh edition

An Introduction to Language and Communication

By: Adrian Akmajian,Ann K. Farmer,Lee Bickmore,Richard A. Demers,Robert M. Harnish

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Linguistics, seventh edition

An Introduction to Language and Communication

By: Adrian Akmajian,Ann K. Farmer,Lee Bickmore,Richard A. Demers,Robert M. Harnish

The latest edition of a popular introductory linguistics text, now including a section on computational linguistics, new non-English examples, quizzes for each chapter, and additional special topics. This popular introductory linguistics text is unique for its integration of themes. Rather than treat morphology, phonetics, phonology, syntax, and semantics as completely separate fields, the book shows how they interact. The authors provide a sound introduction to linguistic methodology, focusing on a set of linguistic concepts that are among the most fundamental within the field. By studying the topics in detail, students can get a feeling for how work in different areas of linguistics is done. As in the last edition, part I covers the structural and interpretive parts of language—morphology, phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, variation, and change. Part II covers use and context of language and includes chapters on pragmatics, psychology of language, language acquisition, and language and the brain. This seventh edition has been extensively revised and updated; new material includes a chapter on computational linguistics (available in digital form and updated regularly to reflect the latest research in a rapidly developing field), more non-English examples, and a wide range of exercises, quizzes, and special topics. The seventh edition of Linguistics includes access to a new, web-based eCourse and enhanced eTextbook. The content from the former print supplement A Linguistics Workbook is now available in this online eCourse as interactive exercises. The eCourse is available via the Rent eTextbook link at http://mitpress.mit.edu/linguistics7, and may be used on its own for self-study or integrated with instructor-led learning management systems. The eCourse is a comprehensive, web-based eLearning solution. There is nothing to download or install; it is accessible through any modern web browser and most mobile devices. It features a singular new tool for building syntax trees, an IPA keyboard, a combination of auto-graded and essay questions, and classroom management tools. The enhanced eTextbook includes videos and flashcards and allows bookmarking, note-taking, highlighting, and annotation sharing. Access to the eCourse is free with the purchase of a new textbook or e-book. New print copies of this book include a card affixed to the inside back cover with a unique access code for the eTextbook. If you purchased an e-book, you may obtain a unique access code by emailing digitalproducts-cs@mit.edu or calling 617-253-2889 or 800-207-8354 (toll-free in the U.S. and Canada). If you have a used copy of this book, you may purchase a digitally delivered access code separately via the Rent eTextbook link at http://mitpress.mit.edu/linguistics7.

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574

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MIT Press

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026253326X

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9780262533263

The End of College

Religion and the Transformation of Higher Education in the 20th Century

By: Robert Wilson-Black

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The End of College

Religion and the Transformation of Higher Education in the 20th Century

By: Robert Wilson-Black

College in the United States changed dramatically during the twentieth century, ushering in what we know today as the American university in all its diversity. Religion departments made their way into institutions in the 1930s to the 1960s, while significant shifts from college to university occurred. The college ideal was primarily shaping the few to enter the Protestant management class through the inculcation of values associated with a Western civilization that relied upon this training done residentially, primarily for young men. Protestant Christian leaders created religion departments as the college model was shifting to the university ideal, where a more democratized population, including women and non-Protestants, studied under professors trained in specialized disciplines to achieve professional careers in a more internationally connected and post-industrial class. Religion departments at mid-century were addressing the lack of an agreed-upon curricular center in the wake of changes such as the elective system, Carnegie credit-hour formulation, and numerous other shifts in disciplines spelling the end of the college ideal, though certainly continuing many of its traditions and structures. Religion departments were an attempt to provide a cultural and religious center that might hold, enhance existential and moral meaning for students, and strengthen an argument against the German research university ideals of naturalistic science whose so-called objectivity proved, at best, problematic and, at worst, inept given the political crisis in Europe. Colleges found they were losing sight of the college ideal and hoped religion as a taught subject could bring back much of what college had meant, from moral formation and curricular focus to personal piety and national unity. That hope was never realized, and what remained in its wake helped fuel the university model with its specialized religion departments seeking entirely different ends. In the shift from college to university, religion professors attempted to become creators of a legitimate academic subject quite apart from the chapel programs, attempts at moralizing, and centrality in the curriculum of Western Christian thought and history championed in the college model.

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305

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Fortress Press

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ISBN 10

1506471471

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9781506471471

The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock's Shower

By: Robert Graysmith

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The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock's Shower

By: Robert Graysmith

Marli Renfro was Janet Leigh's body double in the Hitchcock classic Psycho. When she disappeared, it was believed she was the victim of a serial killer. It was a mystery that took decades to solve-and a crime that could only have happened in Hollywood.

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311

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Penguin

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ISBN 10

110118518X

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9781101185186

Deep Listening

Hidden Meanings in Everyday Conversation

By: Robert E. Haskell

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Deep Listening

Hidden Meanings in Everyday Conversation

By: Robert E. Haskell

What do we really mean when we make embarrassing mistakes in conversation? Is there such a thing as inadvertent insult or a slip of the tongue? Exploring outside influences and the connections to our dream world, Dr. Robert Haskell guides us through the fascinating terrain of the unconscious, showing how our minds use feelings, sounds, and language to simultaneously hide and reveal what we secretly think and feel. Filled with intriguing and amusing illustrations from every day life, Deep Listening provides the key to unlocking the real feelings and meanings behind our interactions with family, friends, and co-workers.

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248

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IAP

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1607528495

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9781607528494

How Moral Philosophy Broke Politics

And How To Fix It

By: Robert A. Johnson

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How Moral Philosophy Broke Politics

And How To Fix It

By: Robert A. Johnson

We live in a remarkable world: science and technology has shifted our understanding of what's possible and transformed our lives. Rain dances and sun worshipping have been replaced by quantum computers, speed-of-light rockets, and our ever-closer inching towards genuine artificial intelligence. But somehow, more and more of us are feeling hopeless; we are still ruled by political systems that haven't hugely changed since they fell into place hundreds, arguably thousands, of years ago. The part of our society that makes decisions on everything from our health to our work is almost completely dysfunctional. Politicians aren't held to account by truth, aren't striving for shared visions of human thriving, and are allowed to mix and mash their policies based upon sound bites and media furores rather than actually progressing humankind. All the while having to focus on short-term goals rather than sustainable ideas. How Moral Philosophy Broke Politics argues that a rational, evidence-based framework for ethics can be developed, by drawing all of our moral opinions back to three basic principles that underlie all of our concerns. By doing this we can rationally judge and weigh new policies and decisions in a way which is accountable and, whilst still debatable, much easier to find consensus on. If we were to accept this new framework then we would be much better off not just in politics, but in all those areas of life which politics affects. The world has changed unrecognisably in the last thousand years, whilst politics hasn't changed much at all. We need to start using reason to develop it into something useful.

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307

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Ockham Publishing Group

Published Date

ISBN 10

1839190310

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9781839190315

Worldly Acts and Sentient Things

The Persistence of Agency from Stein to DeLillo

By: Robert A. Chodat

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Worldly Acts and Sentient Things

The Persistence of Agency from Stein to DeLillo

By: Robert A. Chodat

Ants, ghosts, cultures, thunderstorms, stock markets, robots, computers: this is just a partial list of the sentient things that have filled American literature over the last century. From modernism forward, writers have given life and voice to both the human and the nonhuman, and in the process addressed the motives, behaviors, and historical pressures that define lives—or things—both everyday and extraordinary. In Worldly Acts and Sentient Things Robert Chodat exposes a major shortcoming in recent accounts of twentieth-century discourse. What is often seen as the "death" of agency is better described as the displacement of agency onto new and varied entities. Writers as diverse as Gertrude Stein, Saul Bellow, Ralph Ellison, and Don DeLillo are preoccupied with a cluster of related questions. Which entities are capable of believing something, saying something, desiring, hoping, hating, or doing? Which things, in turn, do we treat as worthy of our care, respect, and worship? Drawing on a philosophical tradition exemplified by Ludwig Wittgenstein and Wilfrid Sellars, Chodat shows that the death of the Cartesian ego need not entail the elimination of purposeful action altogether. Agents do not dissolve or die away in modern thought and literature; they proliferate—some in human forms, some not. Chodat distinguishes two ideas of agency in particular. One locates purposes in embodied beings, "persons," the other in disembodied entities, "presences." Worldly Acts and Sentient Things is a an engaging blend of philosophy and literary theory for anyone interested in modern and contemporary literature, narrative studies, psychology, ethics, and cognitive science.

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270

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Cornell University Press

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ISBN 10

0801462479

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9780801462474

Evolutionary Linguistics

By: April McMahon,Robert McMahon

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Evolutionary Linguistics

By: April McMahon,Robert McMahon

How did the biological, brain and behavioural structures underlying human language evolve? When, why and where did our ancestors become linguistic animals, and what has happened since? This book provides a clear, comprehensive but lively introduction to these interdisciplinary debates. Written in an approachable style, it cuts through the complex, sometimes contradictory and often obscure technical languages used in the different scientific disciplines involved in the study of linguistic evolution. Assuming no background knowledge in these disciplines, the book outlines the physical and neurological structures underlying language systems, and the limits of our knowledge concerning their evolution. Discussion questions and further reading lists encourage students to explore the primary literature further, and the final chapter demonstrates that while many questions still remain unanswered, there is a growing consensus as to how modern human languages have arisen as systems by the interplay of evolved structures and cultural transmission.

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331

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Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

113978885X

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9781139788854

Why Only Us

Language and Evolution

By: Robert C. Berwick,Noam Chomsky

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Why Only Us

Language and Evolution

By: Robert C. Berwick,Noam Chomsky

Berwick and Chomsky draw on recent developments in linguistic theory to offer an evolutionary account of language and humans' remarkable, species-specific ability to acquire it. “A loosely connected collection of four essays that will fascinate anyone interested in the extraordinary phenomenon of language.” —New York Review of Books We are born crying, but those cries signal the first stirring of language. Within a year or so, infants master the sound system of their language; a few years after that, they are engaging in conversations. This remarkable, species-specific ability to acquire any human language—“the language faculty”—raises important biological questions about language, including how it has evolved. This book by two distinguished scholars—a computer scientist and a linguist—addresses the enduring question of the evolution of language. Robert Berwick and Noam Chomsky explain that until recently the evolutionary question could not be properly posed, because we did not have a clear idea of how to define “language” and therefore what it was that had evolved. But since the Minimalist Program, developed by Chomsky and others, we know the key ingredients of language and can put together an account of the evolution of human language and what distinguishes us from all other animals. Berwick and Chomsky discuss the biolinguistic perspective on language, which views language as a particular object of the biological world; the computational efficiency of language as a system of thought and understanding; the tension between Darwin's idea of gradual change and our contemporary understanding about evolutionary change and language; and evidence from nonhuman animals, in particular vocal learning in songbirds.

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229

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MIT Press

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ISBN 10

0262533499

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9780262533492

Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite

Evolution and the Modular Mind

By: Robert Kurzban

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Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite

Evolution and the Modular Mind

By: Robert Kurzban

The evolutionary psychology behind human inconsistency We're all hypocrites. Why? Hypocrisy is the natural state of the human mind. Robert Kurzban shows us that the key to understanding our behavioral inconsistencies lies in understanding the mind's design. The human mind consists of many specialized units designed by the process of evolution by natural selection. While these modules sometimes work together seamlessly, they don't always, resulting in impossibly contradictory beliefs, vacillations between patience and impulsiveness, violations of our supposed moral principles, and overinflated views of ourselves. This modular, evolutionary psychological view of the mind undermines deeply held intuitions about ourselves, as well as a range of scientific theories that require a "self" with consistent beliefs and preferences. Modularity suggests that there is no "I." Instead, each of us is a contentious "we"--a collection of discrete but interacting systems whose constant conflicts shape our interactions with one another and our experience of the world. In clear language, full of wit and rich in examples, Kurzban explains the roots and implications of our inconsistent minds, and why it is perfectly natural to believe that everyone else is a hypocrite.

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288

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Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691154392

ISBN 13

9780691154398

The Electric Meme

A New Theory of How We Think

By: Robert Aunger

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The Electric Meme

A New Theory of How We Think

By: Robert Aunger

From biology to culture to the new new economy, the buzzword on everyone's lips is "meme." How do animals learn things? How does human culture evolve? How does viral marketing work? The answer to these disparate questions and even to what is the nature of thought itself is, simply, the meme. For decades researchers have been convinced that memes were The Next Big Thing for the understanding of society and ourselves. But no one has so far been able to define what they are. Until now. Here, for the first time, Robert Aunger outlines what a meme physically is, how memes originated, how they developed, and how they have made our brains into their survival systems. They are thoughts. They are parasites. They are in control. A meme is a distinct pattern of electrical charges in a node in our brains that reproduces a thousand times faster than a bacterium. Memes have found ways to leap from one brain to another. A number of them are being replicated in your brain as you read this paragraph. In 1976 the biologist Richard Dawkins suggested that all animals -- including humans -- are puppets and that genes hold the strings. That is, we are robots serving as life support for the genes that control us. And all they want to do is replicate themselves. But then, we do lots of things that don't seem to help genes replicate. We decide not to have children, we waste our time doing dangerous things like mountain climbing, or boring things like reading, or stupid things like smoking that don't seem to help genes get copied into the next generation. We do all sorts of cultural things for reasons that don't seem to have anything to do with genes. Fashions in sports, books, clothes, ideas, politics, lifestyles come and go and give our lives meaning, so how can we be gene robots? Dawkins recognized that something else was going on. We communicate with one another and we get ideas, and these ideas seem to have a life of their own. Maybe there was something called memes that were like thought genes. Maybe our bodies were gene robots and our minds were meme robots. That would mean that what we think is not the result of our own creativity, but rather the result of the evolutionary flow of memes as they wash through us. What is the biological reality of an idea with a life of its own? What is a thought gene? It's a meme. And no one before Robert Aunger has established what it physically must be. This elegant, paradigm-shifting analysis identifies how memes replicate in our brains, how they evolved, and how they use artifacts like books and photographs and advertisements to get from one brain to another. Destined to inflame arguments about free will, open doors to new ways of sharing our thoughts, and provide a revolutionary explanation of consciousness, The Electric Meme will change the way each of us thinks about our minds, our cultures, and our daily choices.

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479

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1476740569

ISBN 13

9781476740560

Crime, The Mystery of the Common-Sense Concept

By: Robert Reiner

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Crime, The Mystery of the Common-Sense Concept

By: Robert Reiner

Crime is a source of endless fascination and fear. Yet behind the apparent consensus that crime must be fought, there is considerable conflict about what should or should not be treated as criminal, and even the most shocking crimes can inspire divisive debate. This concise book explores the seemingly simple, common-sense concept of crime revealing the huge complexities, ambiguities and tensions that lie beneath it. Criminal law is often at odds with different moral perspectives and the practices of different cultures. The mass media distort the picture profoundly, as do politicians in pursuit of law and order votes. The criminal justice system tackles only a limited range of crimes – almost entirely ones committed by the poor and relatively powerless – while often neglecting the most dangerous and harmful activities of corporations and states, from the carnage of unjust wars to the tragedies engendered by austerity. It is only by examining the multiple and varied perspectives on crime that we can begin to understand and respond appropriately to this social phenomenon. Written by a world-leading criminologist, this insightful book will be an invaluable and captivating introduction for students and interested readers of criminology, law, sociology and politics.

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272

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509510761

ISBN 13

9781509510764

Joseph Conrad

By: Robert Hampson

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Joseph Conrad

By: Robert Hampson

Joseph Conrad is widely recognized as one of the greatest writers of the early twentieth century. Robert Hampson traces Conrad’s life from his childhood in a Russian penal colony, through his early manhood in Marseille and his years in the British Merchant Navy, to his career as a novelist. This critical biography describes how these experiences inspired Conrad’s work, from his early Malay novels to his best-known work, Heart of Darkness. Hampson also discusses Conrad’s important relations with other writers, in particular Ford Madox Ford, as well as his late-life political engagements and his relationships with women. Featuring new interpretations of all of Conrad’s major works, this is an original interpretation of Conrad’s life of writing.

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209

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Reaktion Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1789143039

ISBN 13

9781789143034

Book's by Robert Pinker

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