Building a Bridge to the 18th Century PDF Download

Author: Neil Postman
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307797287
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
At a time when we are reexamining our values, reeling from the pace of change, witnessing the clash between good instincts and "pragmatism," dealing with the angst of a new millennium, Neil Postman, one of our most distinguished observers of contemporary society, provides for us a source of guidance and inspiration. In Building a Bridge to the Eighteenth Century he revisits the Enlightenment, that great flowering of ideas that provided a humane direction for the future -- ideas that formed our nation and that we would do well to embrace anew. He turns our attention to Goethe, Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Kant, Edward Gibbon, Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, Jefferson, and Franklin, and to their then-radical thinking about inductive science, religious and political freedom, popular education, rational commerce, the nation-state, progress, and happiness. Postman calls for a future connected to traditions that provide sane authority and meaningful purpose -- as opposed to an overreliance on technology and an increasing disregard for the lessons of history. And he argues passionately for specific new guidelines in the education of our children, with renewed emphasis on developing the intellect as successfully as we are developing a computer-driven world. Witty, provocative, and brilliantly reasoned, Building a Bridge to the Eighteenth Century is Neil Postman's most radical, and most commonsensical, book yet.

Author: Neil Postman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780908011407
Category : Civilization, Modern
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
First published in the US in 1999. Discusses the civilization of the western world in the 18th century and the ideas of great thinkers of the Enlightenment, including Goethe, Rousseau, Kant, Adam Smith, Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin. Looks at how these ideas relate to the modern world and its culture and technology. Examines issues of education, democracy and philosophy. Includes references, a bibliography and an index. The author's other publications include 'The End of Education', Conscientious Objection and 'The Disappearance of Childhood.

Author: Eda Kranakis
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262112178
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
A historical look at styles of technological research and design. If it is true, as Tocqueville suggested, that social and class systems shape technology, research, and knowledge, then the effects should be visible both at the individual level and at the level of technical institutions and local environments. That is the central issue addressed in Constructing a Bridge, a tale of two cultures that investigates how national traditions shape technological communities and their institutions and become embedded in everyday engineering practice. Eda Kranakis first examines these issues in the work of two suspension bridge designers of the early nineteenth century: the American inventor James Finley and the French engineer Claude-Louis-Marie-Henri Navier. Finley--who was oriented toward the needs of rural, frontier communities--designed a bridge that could be easily reproduced and constructed by carpenters and blacksmiths. Navier--whose professional training and career reflected a tradition of monumental architecture and had linked him closely to the Parisian scientific community--designed an elegant, costly, and technically sophisticated structure to be built in an elite district of Paris. Charting the careers of these two technologists and tracing the stories of their bridges, Kranakis reveals how local environments can shape design goals, research practices, and design-to-construction processes. Kranakis then offers a broader look at the technological communities and institutions of nineteenth-century France and America and at their ties to technological practice. She shows how conditions that led to Finley's and Navier's distinct designs also fostered different systems of technical education as well as distinct ideologies and traditions of engineering research.The result of this two-tiered, comparative approach is a reorientation of a historiographic tradition initiated by Tocqueville (and explored more recently by Eugene Ferguson, John Kasson, and others) toward a finer-grained analysis of institutional and local environments as mediators between national traditions and individual styles of technological research and design.

Author: Jeff Knudsen
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780764314230
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
In this age of specialization, disciplines are often disconnected; the designer designs, the cabinetmaker builds, and the installer installs. As a result, continuity is lost and quality often suffers. This new book enables individuals to complete each step of the process necessary to create a magnificent 18th century paneled room, relying upon a hands-on, experiential approach. Here, both novices and experienced professionals find valuable design insight, as well as solid, practical methods of cabinet construction. From the basics of design to the finishing touches, readers are taken through the complete building process as beneficiaries of the authors years of fine cabinetmaking experience. 260 color photographs and 20 drawings show steps in the choice and purchase of materials, and the process of building cabinetry and paneling, passage doors, and moldings. This book is a valuable resource for amateur and professional cabinetmakers alike. Only rarely does so talented a craftsman share his secrets and wisdom so clearly.

Author: Paula Bennett
Publisher: Bauer and Dean Publishers
ISBN: 9780983863243
Category : ARCHITECTURE
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Includes 25 adapted historic recipes.Prompted by a serendipitous visit to a bookstore, an epiphany leads Paula and her husband, Harvey, to southern Maine where they both fall in love with the General Ichabod Goodwin House--affectionately called Old Fields. Built at the end of the eighteenth century, the historic house still has its original nine-over-six windows, early Georgian moldings, and wide-plank painted wood floors. But it was the keeping room with its eight-foot wide, five-foot high hearth that captured their imaginations. After they sign the deed, the author begins to diligently research the house's first inhabitants, taking us back into early American history. Paula's research continues as she undertakes the challenge of furnishing the eight rooms in the original part of the house. Trying to evoke an eighteenth-century atmosphere, Paula and Harvey visit historic house museums and build a library on early American décor. Most helpful were the two inventories the author found in the collection of Goodwin family papers at Dartmouth--those of the first two Goodwins to head Old Fields, a father and son, both named Ichabod.Once the house is furnished, Paula's favorite pastime becomes imagining the lives of those first two Ichabods and their families over 250 years ago, not only their daily routines, but how their lives intertwined with larger historic events that helped shape America. Aside from having a passion for early American history, Paula's avid interest in the culinary arts leads her to research and recreate historic recipes, which are woven throughout the text. Another wonderful addition to this story is the discoveries from the archaeological dig in progress outside their front door. Based on the myriad items unearthed since 2011, many details about the chronology of the property and the house have come to light.This book is for anyone who lives in a historic house; who loves archaeology, early American history, and historic cooking; or for those armchair adventurers who will enjoy the Bennetts journey as they "cultivate a slower, less technology-based existence, cherry-picking from the past" and incorporating those pickings into their twenty-first-century lifestyle.

Author: Dorian Gerhold
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1789257522
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 509

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Book Description
London Bridge lined with houses from end to end was one of the most extraordinary structures ever seen in London. It was home to over 500 people, perched above the rushing waters of the Thames, and was one of the city’s main shopping streets. It is among the most familiar images of London in the past, but little has previously been known about the houses and the people who lived and worked in them. This book uses plentiful newly-discovered evidence, including detailed descriptions of nearly every house, to tell the story of the bridge and its houses and inhabitants. With the new information it is possible to reconstruct the plan of the bridge and houses in the seventeenth century, to trace the history of each house back through rentals and a survey to 1358, revealing the original layout, to date most of the houses which appear in later views, and to show how the houses and their occupants changed during five and half centuries. The book describes what stopped the houses falling into the river, how the houses were gradually enlarged, what their layout was inside, what goods were sold on the bridge and how these changed over time, the extensive rebuilding in 1477-1548 and 1683-96, and the removal of the houses around 1760. There are many new discoveries - about the structure of the bridge, the width of the roadway, the original layout of the houses, how the houses were supported, the size and internal planning of the houses, the quality of their architecture, and the trades practised on the bridge. The book includes five newly-commissioned reconstruction drawings showing what we now know about the bridge and its houses.

Author: Naomi Judd
Publisher: Fawcett
ISBN: 0449222748
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 578

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Book Description
Half of the popular mother-daughter team of country singers recounts their rags-to-riches story, their successful career, their relationship, and their struggle with the illness that forced her premature retirement. Reprint.

Author: David McCullough
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743217373
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 654

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Book Description
First published in 1972, The Great Bridge is the classic account of one of the greatest engineering feats of all time. Winning acclaim for its comprehensive look at the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, this book helped cement David McCullough's reputation as America's preeminent social historian. Now, The Great Bridge is reissued as a Simon & Schuster Classic Edition with a new introduction by the author. This monumental book brings back for American readers the heroic vision of the America we once had. It is the enthralling story of one of the greatest events in our nation's history during the Age of Optimism -- a period when Americans were convinced in their hearts that all great things were possible. In the years around 1870, when the project was first undertaken, the concept of building a great bridge to span the East River between the great cities of Manhattan and Brooklyn required a vision and determination comparable to that which went into the building of the pyramids. Throughout the fourteen years of its construction, the odds against the successful completion of the bridge seemed staggering. Bodies were crushed and broken, lives lost, political empires fell, and surges of public emotion constantly threatened the project. But this is not merely the saga of an engineering miracle: it is a sweeping narrative of the social climate of the time and of the heroes and rascals who had a hand in either constructing or obstructing the great enterprise. Amid the flood of praise for the book when it was originally published, Newsday said succinctly "This is the definitive book on the event. Do not wait for a better try: there won't be any."

Author: Cheryl Keely
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
ISBN: 1634724054
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
Bridges are some of the most fascinating structures in our landscape, and they come in all forms. From towering suspension bridges to humble stone crossings, this book visits them all in sweet, bouncing text with expository sidebars. But while bridges can be quite grand, this reminds us that their main purpose is bringing people together. This is perfect for budding architects, as well as readers who can relate to having loved ones who live far away.

Author: James Martin
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 006287344X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
“A treasure...a wise and entertaining book that should appeal to the spiritual pilgrim in all of us, no matter what the faith and no matter whether believer or nonbeliever.” – Chicago Tribune The New York Times bestselling author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything and Jesus: A Pilgrimage turns his attention to the relationship between LGBT Catholics and the Church in this loving, inclusive, and revolutionary book. A powerful call for tolerance, acceptance, and support—and a reminder of Jesus' message for us to love one another. In this moving and inspiring book, Martin offers a powerful, loving, and much-needed voice in a time marked by anger, prejudice, and divisiveness. On the day after the Orlando nightclub shooting, James Martin S.J. posted a video on Facebook in which he called for solidarity with our LGBT brothers and sisters. "The largest mass shooting in US history took place at a gay club and the LGBT community has been profoundly affected," he began. He then implored his fellow Catholics—and people everywhere—to "stand not only with the people of Orlando but also with their LGBT brothers and sisters." Father Martin's post went viral and was viewed more than 1.6 million times. Adapted from an address he gave to New Ways Ministry, a group that ministers to and advocates for LGBT Catholics, Building a Bridge provides a roadmap for repairing and strengthening the bonds that unite all of us as God's children. Martin uses the image of a two-way bridge to enable LGBT Catholics and the Church to come together in a call to end the "us" versus "them" mentality. Turning to the Catechism, he draws on the three criteria at the heart of the Christian ministry—"respect, compassion, and sensitivity"—as a model for how the Catholic Church should relate to the LGBT community. WINNER OF THE LIVING NOW BOOK AWARD IN SOCIAL ACTIVISM/CHARITY.