A very old parrot living high in a jungle tree relates to a group of young parrots what she has seen and stories she has heard over almost a century. She tells of the changes from a bird's point of view.

By any measure, New Zealand must confront monumental issues in the years ahead. From the future of work to climate change, wealth inequality to new populism these challenges are complex and even unprecedented. Yet why does New Zealand’s political discussion seem so diminished, and our political imagination unequal to the enormity of these issues? And why is this gulf particularly apparent to young New Zealanders?These questions sit at the centre of Max Harris’s ‘New Zealand project...

For centuries, the Feast of Fools has been condemned and occasionally celebrated as a disorderly, even transgressive Christian festival, in which reveling clergy elected a burlesque Lord of Misrule, presided over the divine office wearing animal masks or women's clothes, sang obscene songs, swung censers that gave off foul-smelling smoke, played dice at the altar, and otherwise parodied the liturgy of the church. Afterward, they would take to the streets, howling, issuing ...

Epay Stories are fictional events related to ecommerce such as online auctions. The story German Officer's Sword - Used relates the activities of a man who purchases a used German officer's sword on the epay auction site. As he cleans the sword in preparation for display, he encounters a small bit of darkish red material which he removes and gives to a neighboring policeman for analysis. The results are surprising. He proceeds to try to obtain more information without success until a newsp...

A descripton of the life of a Yorkshire Terrier as he related it to his master.

Stories of the present and near future.Confessions of a Drone Pilot recounts a young man's ventures in the drone business.Distress Signal tells about a large scale terrorist attack.Where are my Rare Earths? foresees a future with struggles for raw materials.Twenty-four Hour News looks at manipulation of news reporting.Evil Power shows effects of solar flares.

"Because time, attention, and resources are finite, wise prioritization lies at the heart of any flourishing organization or meaningful life. Yet there's surprisingly little actionable advice on how to do it well—and many seductive reasons to avoid it entirely. This approachable, psychologically astute, and deeply practical book has the potential to change all that. Reading it is well worth your time."—Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for M...

In villages and towns across Spain and its former New World colonies, local performers stage mock battles between Spanish Christians and Moors or Aztecs that range from brief sword dances to massive street theatre lasting several days. The festival tradition officially celebrates the triumph of Spanish Catholicism over its enemies, yet this does not explain its persistence for more than five hundred years nor its widespread diffusion.In this insightful book, Max Harris seeks to und...

A man buys a mink jacket previously worn by Marilyn Monroe on an electronic auction site. At the request of the woman to whom he gives the jacket he tracks the history of the jacket through multiple owners. To his dismay everyone who had worn the jacket had met with unfortunate circumstances. At the suggestion of one of the previous owners he concocts a story to distance the jacket from the actress.

Piketty’s book is a bombshell, promising a Kuhnian scientific revolution. Geoff BertramPiketty erects a floodlight that illuminates the shadows ignored by economists for too long. Hautahi KingiFew books have had the global impact of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century. An overnight bestseller, Piketty’s assessment that inherited wealth will always grow faster, on average, than earned wealth has energised debate. Hailed as ‘bigger than Marx’ (The Economist) or dismissed as ...

With a riotous mix of saints and devils, street theater and dancing, and music and fireworks, Christian festivals are some of the most lively and colorful spectacles that occur in Spain and its former European and American possessions. That these folk celebrations, with roots reaching back to medieval times, remain vibrant in the high-tech culture of the twenty-first century strongly suggests that they also provide an indispensable vehicle for expressing hopes, fears, and desires that peop...

Jewish History: A 12-Volume Anthology offers a comprehensive exploration of Jewish heritage through an extensive range of literary styles. This collection deftly navigates through historical narratives, exegetical texts, biographies, and cultural critiques, providing an intricate tapestry of Jewish life and lore. From the riveting historical chronicles set forth by Josephus to the intellectual rigor found in Simon Dubnow's texts, this anthology stands as a significant scholarly endeavor. S...