The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change by Al Gore

‘The Future - Six Drivers of Global Change,’ by Al Gore - NYTimes.com: " . . . Gore insists that “because nation-states retain the exclusive power to negotiate policies and implement them globally, the only practical way to reclaim control of our destiny is to seek a global consensus within the community of nations to secure the implementation of policies that protect human values.” His somewhat Malthusian anxiety about the sustainability of human population and economic growth is matched by an optimism about the power of global public opinion reminiscent of Woodrow Wilson and other progressives from a century ago. Nonetheless, even the most skeptical realist must concede Gore’s point that there have been “many examples” of an international consensus advancing human rights long before the arrival of the Internet. “The abolition movement, the anti-apartheid movement, the promotion of women’s rights, restrictions on child labor, the anti-whaling movement, the Geneva Conventions against torture, the rapid spread of anticolonialism in the 1960s, the ban on atmospheric nuclear testing and successive waves of the democracy movement — all gained momentum from the sharing of ideas and ideals among groups of committed individuals in multiple countries who pressured their governments to cooperate in the design of laws and treaties that led to broad-based change in much of the world. . . .”

Books: New and noteworthy
USA TODAY
The buzz: A new week, a new James Patterson book! The last Cross novel, Merry Christmas, Alex Cross, reached No. 3 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list in November. 2. The Soundtrack of My Life by Clive Davis (Simon & Schuster, non-fiction, on sale ...

3 Books About House Hunting In The Gilded Age
NPR
3 Books About House Hunting In The Gilded Age. by Janet Wallach. February 17, 2013 7:00 AM. photo Enlarge image i. iStockphoto.com. photo. iStockphoto.com. Interiors intrigue me. Like many New Yorkers, I am often tempted to see what is inside those ...

NPR

Pondlife: A Swimmer's Journal by Al Alvarez – review
The Guardian
Al Alvarez's swimmer's diary, describing his all-year-round swimming in the outdoor ponds on Hampstead Heath, north London, is a marvellous book. Even the title Pondlife is spot-on: unlaboured, light and right. But it has no business to be as ...

The Guardian

SF book event for designer Eric Cohler
San Francisco Chronicle
At the event co-hosted by art consultant Sabrina Buell, Onekingslane co-founder Alison Pincus, Allison Speer and Eric's brother, venture capitalist Matt Cohler, friends jammed the store to celebrate the Manhattan designer's first book, "Cohler on ...

San Francisco Chronicle

Author Randy Susan Meyers 'Comfort' is based on a lie
Boston Herald
Boston writer Randy Susan Meyers has what she calls a “checkered past.” A former bartender, social worker, divorcee, mother and counselor to men who batter women, she first became a published author at 57 with her first book, “The Murderer's Daughter.” ...

Discoveries: Free books in El Cerrito
Sacramento Bee
EL CERRITO – Neither a bookstore nor a library, but something of a utopian hybrid, the Bay Area Free Book Exchange almost makes a guy feel sheepish and guilty, as if he's getting away with something not entirely above-board. There are books. They are ...

Morris libraries talking books program helps blind, disabled read
Dailyrecord.com
As a result, the State Library Talking Book and Braille Center (TBBC) has recently increased its program to help the visually and physically handicapped enjoy books via libraries throughout the state. The Morris County Library in Whippany is one of 11 ...

Drifting Decade: a Book by Daniel Blom
Red Bull (International)
"After ten years of documenting the snowboarding scene, photographer Daniel Blom now sums it up in Drifting Decade, a hardcover 240 page book portraying some of the most influential riders of the 21st century, on and off the mountain. Mixing ...

Nevada author keeps great-grandfather's Oz alive
Reno Gazette Journal
Author Roger Baum is photographed inside his North Las Vegas home on Jan. 25, 2013. Roger Baum is the great-grandson of L. Frank ... Since 1989, Roger Baum has carried on his great-grandfather's legacy, publishing 15 of his own Oz books, with a 16th ...

The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech - Review
The Guardian
Naomi Deane and Lizzie Scatterding (the main characters) know who everyone is in Blackbird Tree, and so does the reader as the author describes them amazingly and in great detail. Nothing out of the ordinary ever happens in Blackbird Tree. That is ...


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