N - 196 | The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire by William Dalrymple

The story of how the East India Company took over large swaths of Asia, and the devastating results of the corporation running a country.

In August 1765, the East India Company defeated the young Mughal emperor and set up, in his place, a government run by English traders who collected taxes through means of a private army.

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N - 152 | Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream by Arianna Huffington

It's not an exaggeration to say that middle-class Americans are an endangered species and that the American Dream of a secure, comfortable standard of living has become as outdated as an Edsel with an eight-track player—that the United States of America is in danger of becoming a third world nation.

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N - 149 | Arguing with Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future by Paul Krugman

There is no better guide than Paul Krugman to basic economics, the ideas that animate much of our public policy. Likewise, there is no stronger foe of zombie economics, the misunderstandings that just won’t die.

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N - 111 | Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life by Rory Sutherland

Why is Red Bull so popular, though everyone—everyone!—hates the taste?

Humans are, in a word, irrational, basing decisions as much on subtle external signals (that little blue can) as on objective qualities (flavor, price, quality). The surrounding world, meanwhile, is irreducibly complex and random. This means future success can’t be projected on any accounting spreadsheet. To strike gold, you must master the dark art and curious science of conjuring irresistible ideas: alchemy.

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SC - 602 | Biodiesel: From Production to Combustion

Biodiesel: From Production to Combustion ( Biofuel and Biorefinery Technologies Book 8 ) by Meisam Tabatabaei (Editor), Mortaza Aghbashlo (Editor)

This book presents in-depth information on the state of the art of global biodiesel production and investigates its impact on climate change. Subsequently, it comprehensively discusses biodiesel production in terms of production systems (reactor technologies) as well as biodiesel purification and upgrading technologies.

Moreover, the book reviews essential parameters in biodiesel production systems as well as major principles of operation, process control, and trouble-shooting in these systems. Conventional and emerging applications of biodiesel by-products with a view to further economize biodiesel production are also scrutinized. Separate chapters are dedicated to economic risk analysis and critical comparison of biodiesel production systems as well as techno-economical aspects of biodiesel plants. The book also thoroughly investigates the important aspects of biodiesel production and combustion by taking advantage of advanced sustainability analysis tools including life cycle assessment (LCA) and exergy techniques. In closing, the application of Omics technologies in biodiesel production is presented and discussed. This book is relevant to anyone with an interest in renewable, more sustainable fuel and energy solutions.

ISBN: 303000984X | 2018 | ID: SC - 602

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SC - 646 | Green Composites: Processing, Characterisation and Applications for Textiles

Green Composites: Processing, Characterisation and Applications for Textiles (Textile Science and Clothing Technology) by Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu (Editor)

This book highlights the processing, characterization and applications of various green composites. Composites are known for their unique properties, which are derived by combining two or more components.

This yields properties such as greater strength and rigidity than that of the individual components, as well as reduced weight. To help achieve such outcomes, the book discusses the potential applications of hybrid bio-composites and sisal-fiber-reinforced epoxidized non-edible oil-based epoxy green composites.

2019 | ISBN-10: 9811319715 | ID: SC - 646

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SC - 648 | Urban Galapagos: Transition to Sustainability

Urban Galapagos: Transition to Sustainability in Complex Adaptive Systems (Social and Ecological Interactions in the Galapagos Islands) by Thomas Kvan (Editor), Justyna Karakiewicz (Editor)

This book addresses the future of urbanisation on the Galapagos Islands from a systems, governance and design perspective with the competing parameters of liveability, economic and ecological, using the Galapagos as a laboratory for the theoretical and postulative understanding of evolving settlement and habitation.

The Galapagos islands are one of the world's most examined and reported examples of a series of naturally evolving ecosystems. The biodiversity of these island ecosystems are the focus of tourism and the image across the world yet human settlement are part of the local ecology. While human intervention is limited, the islands are a distinctive context in which to consider the impact of human habitation as a part of our ecosystems. In this book, authors take the framework of complex adaptive systems (CAS) in which to model systems that grow and evolve, the relations between these various sectors change; systems that get more complex as they evolve. Tested and applied discretely in the two realms of natural and urban, for the first time this text will bring the two together in understanding options for the future of urban settlements on the Galapagos Islands and, by extension, consider how the approach can be used globally in other contexts.

2019 | ISBN-10: 3319995332 | ID: SC - 648

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* Energy from Organic Materials (Biomass)

Energy from Organic Materials (Biomass): A Volume in the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, Second Edition (Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology Series) by Martin Kaltschmitt (Editor)

This comprehensive reference is a state-of-the-art survey of biomass as an energy carrier for the provision of heat, electricity, and transportation fuel, considering technical, economic, environmental, and social aspects.

On a global scale, biomass contributes roughly 12 to 16 % of the energy needed to cover the overall primary energy consumption. Thus far, it is humanity's most important source of renewable energy, used on practically all continents and growing in importance even in industrialized nations. With detailed coverage of the production of solid, gaseous and liquid fuels, as well as a final energy provision, this volume serves as an introduction for readers just entering the field, but also offers new insights, up-to-date information, as well as latest findings for advanced researchers, industry experts, and decision makers.

2018 | ISBN-10: 1493978128 | 50MB

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SC - 650 | Seeds of Wealth: Four plants that made men rich

Seeds of Wealth: Four plants that made men rich by Henry Hobhouse

Henry Hobhouse was the first to recognise plants as a causal factor in history in his Seeds of Wealth. In this new book, he examines four plants: rubber, timber, tobacco and the wine grape, each of which enormously increased the wealth of those who dealt in them, created great new industries and changed the course of history.

Ancient Rome's monopoly on wine production had huge economic and hygienic importance. Without rubber, there would have been no development of cars, buses and trucks, bicycles, waterproof clothing or even tennis balls and condoms. Tobacco has largely been condemned for its effects on health and its true role in history ignored. Tobacco has often been used in place of currency and its growth in Virginia supported a colony that produced much of the talent that made Independence possible. Timber shortages led the British Royal Navy to become dependent on American timber. The dearth of timber drove English coal mines deep, which led to the steam pumps, steam engines, and ultimately the Industrial Revolution.

These are fascinating stories the effect of minutiae on the great waves of history.

2012 | ASIN: B0091DL4CA, ISBN: 1593760442 | ID: SC - 650

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