A critical read offering fresh, objective look at US diversity. Well organized with abundant and useful information easy to find.
Short-term visitors to the U.S. will find advice for surviving customs and immigration, finding an apartment, doing business, obtaining health care, and navigating the supermarket, bank and post office. If you plan to stay longer, you will find practical pointers for getting along at work, school, and at home; buying a house; making and keeping American friends; and understanding dominant American values in a diverse and complex society. Living in the U.S.A. is a comprehensive guide to attitudes, customs, manners and daily life in the United States.
A highly original and
ambitious approach to civilizations. Fernández-Armesto emphasizes the degree to
which control over the environment shapes the nature of civilizations. Blessed
with a gift for illuminating "total history" in books like
Millennium, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto has become a fixture on the annual New
York Times Notables list, time and again proving himself a brilliantly original
and accessible historian. Now, with this breakthrough new work, he achieves a
masterful resolution to the riddle that has preoccupied centuries of state-of-the-art
thinkers: the nature of civilization. To the author, societies become civilized
by taming and warping nature. Civilizations can best be studied and ranked in
relation to their environments. Exploring seventeen distinct habitats -
including tundra societies of Ice Age Europe, bushmen of South Africa, and
island cultures of Polynesia - Civilizations zooms in on features that will be
familiar to any ecologist, but which actually reflect the quality of life and
source of survival in civilizations across ten millennia.
Music journalist Mason, a former pirate radio and club DJ in London,
explores how open source culture is changing the distribution and
control of information and harnessing the old system of punk capitalism
to new market conditions governing society. According to Mason, this
movement's creators operate according to piratical tactics and are
changing the very nature of our economy. He charts the rise of the
ideas and social experiments behind these latter-day pirates, citing
the work of academics, historians and innovators across a multitude of
fields. He also explores contributions by visionaries like Andy Warhol,
50 Cent and Dr. Yuref Hamied, who was called a pirate and a thief after
producing anti-HIV drugs for Third World countries that cost as little
as $1 a day to produce. Pirates, Mason states, sail uncharted waters
where traditional rules don't apply. As a result, they offer great ways
to service the public's best interests. According to Mason, how people,
corporations and governments react to these changes is one of the most
important economic and cultural questions of the 21st century.
Well-written, entertaining and highly original, Mason offers a
fascinating view of the revolutionary forces shaping the world as we
know it.
12 Great Walking Tours Through the Most Colorful Neighborhoods in San Francisco Follow Frommer's for an up-close and personal look at the City by the Bay. Discover the dramatic views, stunning architecture, and exotic sights and sounds that make it such a special place. LET FROMMER'S TAKE YOU TO: The North Beach and Russian Hill haunts of the Beat Generation with tales of the larger-than-life personalities that made it all happen The cultural and culinary delights of Chinatown, the birthplace of modern San Francisco Funky shopping and Summer of Love flashbacks in Haight-Ashbury Roses, redwoods, and rowboats in Golden Gate Park, one of America's greatest urban playgrounds
Frommer's New York State is an extraordinary and highly personal guide to one of America's most diverse regions. Frommer's New York State is packed with candid opinions on everything about New York City, but also on the beaches, antiques shops, wineries, skiing, hiking, biking, and other outdoor adventures that make up the rest of New York State. We've covered all the perennial favorites, from the Hamptons to Niagara Falls, but we'll also take you off the beaten track to discover New York's best small towns and natural escapes. Whether you want a romantic getaway in an upstate B&B or family fun on Long Island's best beaches, Frommer's will help you design the trip that's right for you.