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Books with author Ian A. Morrison

  • War! What Is It Good For?: Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots

    Ian Morris

    eBook (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, April 15, 2014)
    A powerful and provocative exploration of how war has changed our society—for the better"War! . . . . / What is it good for? / Absolutely nothing," says the famous song—but archaeology, history, and biology show that war in fact has been good for something. Surprising as it sounds, war has made humanity safer and richer.In War! What Is It Good For?, the renowned historian and archaeologist Ian Morris tells the gruesome, gripping story of fifteen thousand years of war, going beyond the battles and brutality to reveal what war has really done to and for the world. Stone Age people lived in small, feuding societies and stood a one-in-ten or even one-in-five chance of dying violently. In the twentieth century, by contrast—despite two world wars, Hiroshima, and the Holocaust—fewer than one person in a hundred died violently. The explanation: War, and war alone, has created bigger, more complex societies, ruled by governments that have stamped out internal violence. Strangely enough, killing has made the world safer, and the safety it has produced has allowed people to make the world richer too.War has been history's greatest paradox, but this searching study of fifteen thousand years of violence suggests that the next half century is going to be the most dangerous of all time. If we can survive it, the age-old dream of ending war may yet come to pass. But, Morris argues, only if we understand what war has been good for can we know where it will take us next.
  • Why the West Rules--for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

    Ian Morris

    Paperback (Picador, Oct. 25, 2011)
    A New York Times Notable Book for 2011 Sometime around 1750, English entrepreneurs unleashed the astounding energies of steam and coal, and the world was forever changed. The emergence of factories, railroads, and gunboats propelled the West's rise to power in the nineteenth century, and the development of computers and nuclear weapons in the twentieth century secured its global supremacy. Now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, many worry that the emerging economic power of China and India spells the end of the West as a superpower. In order to understand this possibility, we need to look back in time. Why has the West dominated the globe for the past two hundred years, and will its power last?Describing the patterns of human history, the archaeologist and historian Ian Morris offers surprising new answers to both questions. It is not, he reveals, differences of race or culture, or even the strivings of great individuals, that explain Western dominance. It is the effects of geography on the everyday efforts of ordinary people as they deal with crises of resources, disease, migration, and climate. As geography and human ingenuity continue to interact, the world will change in astonishing ways, transforming Western rule in the process.Deeply researched and brilliantly argued, Why the West Rules―for Now spans fifty thousand years of history and offers fresh insights on nearly every page. The book brings together the latest findings across disciplines―from ancient history to neuroscience―not only to explain why the West came to rule the world but also to predict what the future will bring in the next hundred years.
  • War! What Is It Good For?: Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots

    Ian Morris

    Paperback (Picador, April 7, 2015)
    A POWERFUL AND PROVOCATIVE EXPLORATION OF HOW WAR HAS CHANGED OUT SOCIETY―FOR THE BETTER"War! / What is it good for? / Absolutely nothing," says the famous song―but archaeology, history, and biology show that war in fact has been good for something. Surprising as it sounds, war has made humanity safer and richer. In War! What Is It Good For?, the renowned historian and archaeologist Ian Morris tells the gruesome, gripping story of fifteen thousand years of war, going beyond the battles and brutality to reveal what war has really done to and for the world. Stone Age people lived in small, feuding societies and stood a one-in-ten or even one-in-five chance of dying violently. In the twentieth century, by contrast―despite two world wars, Hiroshima, and the Holocaust―fewer than one person in a hundred died violently. The explanation: War, and war alone, has created bigger, more complex societies, ruled by governments that have stamped out internal violence. Strangely enough, killing has made the world safer, and the safety it has produced has allowed people to make the world richer too. War has been history's greatest paradox, but this searching study of fifteen thousand years of violence suggests that the next half century is going to be the most dangerous of all time. If we can survive it, the age-old dream of ending war may yet come to pass. But, Morris argues, only if we understand what war has been good for can we know where it will take us next.
  • War! What Is It Good For?: Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots

    Ian Morris

    Hardcover (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, April 15, 2014)
    A powerful and provocative exploration of how war has changed our society―for the better"War! . . . . / What is it good for? / Absolutely nothing," says the famous song―but archaeology, history, and biology show that war in fact has been good for something. Surprising as it sounds, war has made humanity safer and richer.In War! What Is It Good For?, the renowned historian and archaeologist Ian Morris tells the gruesome, gripping story of fifteen thousand years of war, going beyond the battles and brutality to reveal what war has really done to and for the world. Stone Age people lived in small, feuding societies and stood a one-in-ten or even one-in-five chance of dying violently. In the twentieth century, by contrast―despite two world wars, Hiroshima, and the Holocaust―fewer than one person in a hundred died violently. The explanation: War, and war alone, has created bigger, more complex societies, ruled by governments that have stamped out internal violence. Strangely enough, killing has made the world safer, and the safety it has produced has allowed people to make the world richer too.War has been history's greatest paradox, but this searching study of fifteen thousand years of violence suggests that the next half century is going to be the most dangerous of all time. If we can survive it, the age-old dream of ending war may yet come to pass. But, Morris argues, only if we understand what war has been good for can we know where it will take us next.
  • Count with Unicorn: A Fun Picture Puzzle Book for 3-6 Years. NEW Counting Book for Kids.

    Mark A. Morrison

    NEW 12.2019 This is an awesome counting book from 1 to 12, for children aged 3-6 years and for older children as an exercise of concentration! The pages are packed with Unicorn elements to look for, find, and count, along with lots of fun things to spot. A perfect book for little learners. They'll develop observational skills, apply numbers to objects and they'll be having so much fun they won't even know they're learning! And all this together with Unicorns.The best gift for fans of Unicorn!
  • Why the West Rules--for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

    Ian Morris

    eBook (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Oct. 12, 2010)
    A New York Times Notable Book for 2011 Sometime around 1750, English entrepreneurs unleashed the astounding energies of steam and coal, and the world was forever changed. The emergence of factories, railroads, and gunboats propelled the West's rise to power in the nineteenth century, and the development of computers and nuclear weapons in the twentieth century secured its global supremacy. Now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, many worry that the emerging economic power of China and India spells the end of the West as a superpower. In order to understand this possibility, we need to look back in time. Why has the West dominated the globe for the past two hundred years, and will its power last?Describing the patterns of human history, the archaeologist and historian Ian Morris offers surprising new answers to both questions. It is not, he reveals, differences of race or culture, or even the strivings of great individuals, that explain Western dominance. It is the effects of geography on the everyday efforts of ordinary people as they deal with crises of resources, disease, migration, and climate. As geography and human ingenuity continue to interact, the world will change in astonishing ways, transforming Western rule in the process.Deeply researched and brilliantly argued, Why the West Rules—for Now spans fifty thousand years of history and offers fresh insights on nearly every page. The book brings together the latest findings across disciplines—from ancient history to neuroscience—not only to explain why the West came to rule the world but also to predict what the future will bring in the next hundred years.
  • Coding for Teens: Minecraft and Lua. Intermediate Guide with 162 awesome Activities. An unofficial Minecraft Book.: Learn to code.

    Mark A. Morrison

    language (, Nov. 28, 2019)
    The best gift for children - tomorrow's profession. Future programmers and engineers get ready! This is a complete guide for children aged 11 and their parents with no or little coding experience. This interesting, educational book with 162 wonderful exercises introduces children to the world of coding in Lua, a programming language used by game developers of, e.g. Roblox. The ComputerCraftEdu mod and Minecraft are also used for learning. Learning takes place in a code editor and involves programming a turtle that will do everything for you: dig, build, detect the type of block, use Redstone and much more. Thanks to the illustrated instructions, step by step you will learn the most important programming concepts such as functions, variables, loops and more.Become a master coding in Minecraft! Don't forget to check the notebooks for Minecrafters and our other books Content- 162 exercises with solutions at the end of the book- list of completed tasks- basics of a simple and pleasant to learn Lua language (code editor)- effective learning by playing in the world of Minecraft- topics useful for understanding various programming languages- tasks that develop logical thinking- elements of mathematics.
  • The Bluest Eye

    Morrison

    Paperback (Pocket, March 1, 1991)
    An impoverished black girl relates the struggles which attended her growth to maturity in rural Ohio
  • Why the West Rules--for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

    Ian Morris

    Hardcover (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Oct. 12, 2010)
    A New York Times Notable Book for 2011 Sometime around 1750, English entrepreneurs unleashed the astounding energies of steam and coal, and the world was forever changed. The emergence of factories, railroads, and gunboats propelled the West's rise to power in the nineteenth century, and the development of computers and nuclear weapons in the twentieth century secured its global supremacy. Now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, many worry that the emerging economic power of China and India spells the end of the West as a superpower. In order to understand this possibility, we need to look back in time. Why has the West dominated the globe for the past two hundred years, and will its power last?Describing the patterns of human history, the archaeologist and historian Ian Morris offers surprising new answers to both questions. It is not, he reveals, differences of race or culture, or even the strivings of great individuals, that explain Western dominance. It is the effects of geography on the everyday efforts of ordinary people as they deal with crises of resources, disease, migration, and climate. As geography and human ingenuity continue to interact, the world will change in astonishing ways, transforming Western rule in the process.Deeply researched and brilliantly argued, Why the West Rules―for Now spans fifty thousand years of history and offers fresh insights on nearly every page. The book brings together the latest findings across disciplines―from ancient history to neuroscience―not only to explain why the West came to rule the world but also to predict what the future will bring in the next hundred years.
  • Away An' Ask Yer Mother!: Your Scottish Father's Favourite Sayings

    Allan Morrison

    Paperback (Neil Wilson Pub Ltd, March 1, 2003)
    A compilation of those phrases and sayings which hen-pecked and harassed (and well-loved) Scottish dads have uttered to their children over the years. Favourites include: Everyone in this house is entitled to my opinion! and It's OK wi' me if it's OK wi yer mother!.
  • Coding for Kids: Minecraft® & Lua: Beginner's Guide with 127 awesome Activities. An unofficial Minecraft® Book

    Mark A. Morrison

    eBook (, Nov. 19, 2019)
    Future programmers and engineers get ready!This is a complete visual guide for children aged 8-12 and their parents with no or little coding experience. This interesting, educational book with 127 wonderful exercises introduces children to the world of coding in Lua, a programming language used by game developers of, e.g. Roblox®. The ComputerCraftEdu mod and Minecraft® are also used for learning.Learning takes place in a visual editor and involves programming a turtle that will do everything for you: dig, build, detect the type of block, use Redstone and much more. Thanks to the illustrated instructions, step by step you will learn the most important programming concepts such as functions, variables, loops and more. Become a master coding in Minecraft®!Don't forget to check the more difficult tasks in our second book. Content:- 127 exercises with solutions at the end of the book- list of completed tasks- basics of a simple and pleasant to learn Lua language (visual editor)- effective learning by playing in the world of Minecraft®- topics useful for understanding various programming languages- tasks that develop logical thinking- elements of mathematics.
  • HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

    Ian A. Morrison

    Hardcover (Ladybird Books Ltd, )
    None