New Books Network

New Books in Science & Technology
Suman Seth, “Crafting the Quantum: Arnold Sommerfeld and the Practice of Theory, 1890-1926” (MIT Press, 2010)
Suman Seth
Crafting the Quantum
Arnold Sommerfeld and the Practice of Theory, 1890-1926
MIT Press, 2010

New Books in HistoryNew Books in Intellectual HistoryNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyNew Books Network February 24, 2012 Carla Nappi

Though Einstein, Planck, and Pauli have become household names in the history of science, the work of Arnold Sommerfeld has yet to reach the same level of wide recognition outside the field of theoretical physics and its history. In Crafting the Quantum: Arnold Sommerfeld and the Practice of Theory, 1890-1926... Read More
Peter-Paul Verbeek, “Moralizing Technology: Understanding and Designing the Morality of Things” (University of Chicago Press, 2011)
Peter-Paul Verbeek
Moralizing Technology
Understanding and Designing the Morality of Things
University of Chicago Press, 2011

New Books in PhilosophyNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books in TechnologyNew Books Network February 15, 2012 Carrie Figdor

“Guns don’t kill people; people do.” That’s a common refrain from the National Rifle Association, but it expresses a certain view of our relations to the things we make that also affects our thinking about the scope of ethics. On this traditional view, human persons are moral agents, and artifacts,... Read More
Theo van Leeuwen, “The Language of Colour: An Introduction” (Routledge, 2011)
Theo van Leeuwen
The Language of Colour
An Introduction
Routledge, 2011

New Books in LanguageNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in PsychologyNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books Network February 10, 2012 Chris Cummins

Theo van Leeuwen comes to the academic discipline of social semiotics – the study of how meanings are conveyed – from his previous career as a film and TV producer. His interest in the makings of visual communication is hardly surprising. More surprising was his realisation that, after 10 years... Read More
Erik Mueggler, “The Paper Road: Archive and Experience in the Botanical Exploration of West China and Tibet” (University of California Press, 2011)
Erik Mueggler
The Paper Road
Archive and Experience in the Botanical Exploration of West China and Tibet
University of California Press, 2011

New Books in East Asian StudiesNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyNew Books Network February 1, 2012 Carla Nappi

First things first: this is an outstanding book. In the course of The Paper Road: Archive and Experience in the Botanical Exploration of West China and Tibet (University of California Press, 2011), Erik Mueggler weaves together the stories of two botanists traveling through western China and Tibet in a lyrically-written... Read More
Marta Hanson, “Speaking of Epidemics in Chinese Medicine: Disease and the Geographic Imagination in Late Imperial China” (Routledge, 2011)
Marta Hanson
Speaking of Epidemics in Chinese Medicine
Disease and the Geographic Imagination in Late Imperial China
Routledge, 2011

New Books in East Asian StudiesNew Books in HistoryNew Books in MedicineNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyNew Books Network January 24, 2012 Carla Nappi

Marta Hanson‘s book is a rich study of conceptions of space in medical thought and practice. Ranging from a deep history of the geographic imagination in China to an account of the SARS outbreak of the 21st century, Hanson’s book maps the transformations of medicine and healing in late imperial... Read More