Johannes Gutenberg and the Shadow of Bi Sheng

Johannes Gutenberg and the Shadow of Bi Sheng PDF

Author: Hans Giessen

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-11-13

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 3658428651

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Without language, not much else would exist: no writing, no computer – as a matter of fact, no technical or medical progress that make our lives less painful, and easier indeed; but also not some horrors that characterize our world. In fact, language is what defines humans and distinguishes them from other living beings – and is the basis of all other developments. How is it possible that something as complex and fascinating as 'language' has come into being at all? How does language 'work'? And how did it develop? What is common to all languages – and why are there so many? Further questions are how man began to write, and how printing developed – in which languages? Why not in any language? And does this teach us anything for further developments? In trying to answer these and other questions, we experience an exciting history of scientific research.

Codex Born

Codex Born PDF

Author: Jim C. Hines

Publisher: Astra Publishing House

Published: 2013-08-06

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 1101635754

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Hugo winner Jim C. Hines's hilarious and clever Magic ex Libris series, where books come alive and libriomancer Isaac Vainio combats magical threats that spring from the page Five hundred years ago, Johannes Gutenberg discovered the art of libriomancy, allowing him to reach into books to create things from their pages. Gutenberg’s power brought him many enemies, and some of those enemies have waited centuries for revenge. Revenge which begins with the brutal slaughter of a wendigo in the northern Michigan town of Tamarack, a long-established werewolf territory. Libriomancer Isaac Vainio is part of Die Zwelf Portenære, better known as the Porters, the organization founded by Gutenberg to protect the world from magical threats. Isaac is called in to investigate the killing, along with Porter psychiatrist Nidhi Shah and their dryad bodyguard and lover, Lena Greenwood. Born decades ago from the pages of a pulp fantasy novel, Lena was created to be the ultimate fantasy woman, strong and deadly, but shaped by the needs and desires of her companions. Her powers are unique, and Gutenberg’s enemies hope to use those powers for themselves. But their plan could unleash a far darker evil…

Unbound

Unbound PDF

Author: Jim C. Hines

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2016-01-05

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 0756409691

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Michigan librarian Isaac, stripped of his power, teams up with fire-spider Smudge, dryad warrior Lena, and psychiatrist Nidhi in order to stop a banished queen who has returned in the body of a young girl.

A History of Graphic Design

A History of Graphic Design PDF

Author: Philip B. Meggs

Publisher: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 552

ISBN-13:

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Here is the first definitive history of graphic communication. More than a thousand vivid illustrations chronicle our fascinating & unceasing quest to give visual form to ideas.

The Grid Book

The Grid Book PDF

Author: Hannah B Higgins

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2009-01-23

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 0262512408

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Ten grids that changed the world: the emergence and evolution of the most prominent visual structure in Western culture. Emblematic of modernity, the grid is the underlying form of everything from skyscrapers and office cubicles to paintings by Mondrian and a piece of computer code. And yet, as Hannah Higgins makes clear in this engaging and evocative book, the grid has a history that long predates modernity; it is the most prominent visual structure in Western culture. In The Grid Book, Higgins examines the history of ten grids that changed the world: the brick, the tablet, the gridiron city plan, the map, musical notation, the ledger, the screen, moveable type, the manufactured box, and the net. Charting the evolution of each grid, from the Paleolithic brick of ancient Mesopotamia through the virtual connections of the Internet, Higgins demonstrates that once a grid is invented, it may bend, crumble, or shatter, but its organizing principle never disappears. The appearance of each grid was a watershed event. Brick, tablet, and city gridiron made possible sturdy housing, the standardization of language, and urban development. Maps, musical notation, financial ledgers, and moveable type promoted the organization of space, music, and time, international trade, and mass literacy. The screen of perspective painting heralded the science of the modern period, classical mechanics, and the screen arts, while the standardization of space made possible by the manufactured box suggested the purified box forms of industrial architecture and visual art. The net, the most ancient grid, made its first appearance in Stone Age Finland; today, the loose but clearly articulated networks of the World Wide Web suggest that we are in the middle of an emergent grid that is reshaping the world, as grids do, in its image.

The History and Cultural Heritage of Chinese Calligraphy, Printing and Library Work

The History and Cultural Heritage of Chinese Calligraphy, Printing and Library Work PDF

Author: Susan M. Allen

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2010-03-26

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 3598441797

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In China the tradition of a book society is longer than anywhere else in the world. Chinese paper making, calligraphy and woodblock printing date from very early ages, but have for a very long time remained almost unknown to the Western world. At the IFLA satellite meeting “Chinese Written and Printed Cultural Heritage and Library Work” in Hangzhou in 2006 the richness of present day book historical research and library activities in China has been presented by more than sixty papers. This fine selection reflects the width and depth of this extremely important and immense Chinese heritage.

Human Accomplishment

Human Accomplishment PDF

Author: Charles Murray

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2009-10-13

Total Pages: 790

ISBN-13: 0061745677

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A sweeping cultural survey reminiscent of Barzun's From Dawn to Decadence. "At irregular times and in scattered settings, human beings have achieved great things. Human Accomplishment is about those great things, falling in the domains known as the arts and sciences, and the people who did them.' So begins Charles Murray's unique account of human excellence, from the age of Homer to our own time. Employing techniques that historians have developed over the last century but that have rarely been applied to books written for the general public, Murray compiles inventories of the people who have been essential to the stories of literature, music, art, philosophy, and the sciences—a total of 4,002 men and women from around the world, ranked according to their eminence. The heart of Human Accomplishment is a series of enthralling descriptive chapters: on the giants in the arts and what sets them apart from the merely great; on the differences between great achievement in the arts and in the sciences; on the meta-inventions, 14 crucial leaps in human capacity to create great art and science; and on the patterns and trajectories of accomplishment across time and geography. Straightforwardly and undogmatically, Charles Murray takes on some controversial questions. Why has accomplishment been so concentrated in Europe? Among men? Since 1400? He presents evidence that the rate of great accomplishment has been declining in the last century, asks what it means, and offers a rich framework for thinking about the conditions under which the human spirit has expressed itself most gloriously. Eye-opening and humbling, Human Accomplishment is a fascinating work that describes what humans at their best can achieve, provides tools for exploring its wellsprings, and celebrates the continuing common quest of humans everywhere to discover truths, create beauty, and apprehend the good.

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