{"id":5156,"date":"2024-11-06T18:26:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-06T18:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/library\/?p=5156"},"modified":"2024-11-06T20:32:15","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T20:32:15","slug":"new-ebooks-for-november-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/library\/2024\/11\/06\/new-ebooks-for-november-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebooks to Read Now–New Titles for November Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

For November, listed below are some recently acquired ebooks added to the RLB Library’s ebook collection.<\/p>\n

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Respect and Loathing in American Democracy : Polarization, Moralization, and the Undermining of Equality<\/strong><\/a> by Jeff Spinner-Halev and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse, 2024.<\/p>\n

Respect is in trouble in the United States. Many Americans believe respecting others is a necessary virtue, yet many struggle to respect opposing partisans. Surprisingly, it is liberal citizens, who hold respect as central to their view of democratic equality, who often have difficulty granting respect to others. Drawing on evidence from national surveys, focus groups, survey experiments, and the views of political theorists, Jeff Spinner-Halev and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse explain why this is and why respect is vital to\u2014and yet so lacking in\u2014contemporary US politics.<\/p>\n

Respect and Loathing in American Democracy<\/span>\u00a0argues that liberals and conservatives are less divided than many believe, but alienate one another because they moralize different issues. Liberals moralize social justice, conservatives champion national solidarity, and this worldview divide keeps them at odds.<\/p>\n

Respect is both far-reaching and vital, yet it is much harder to grant than many recognize, partly because of the unseen tension between respect, social justice, and national solidarity.\u00a0Respect and Loathing in American Democracy<\/span>\u00a0proposes a path forward that, while challenging, is far from impossible for citizens to traverse.<\/p>\n

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AI snake oil : what artificial intelligence can do, what it can’t, and how to tell the difference<\/strong><\/a> by Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor, 2024.<\/p>\n

From two of TIME\u2019 s 100 Most Influential People in\u00a0AI, what you need to know about\u00a0AI\u2014and how to defend yourself against bogus\u00a0AI\u00a0claims and products Confused about\u00a0AI\u00a0and worried about what it means for your future and the future of the world? You\u2019re not alone.\u00a0AI\u00a0is everywhere\u2014and few things are surrounded by so much hype, misinformation, and misunderstanding. In\u00a0AI Snake Oil\u00a0, computer scientists Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor cut through the confusion to give you an essential understanding of how\u00a0AI\u00a0works and why it often doesn\u2019t, where it might be useful or harmful, and when you should suspect that companies are using\u00a0AI\u00a0hype to sell\u00a0AI snake oil\u2014products that don\u2019t work, and probably never will. While acknowledging the potential of some\u00a0AI, such as ChatGPT,\u00a0AI Snake Oil\u00a0uncovers rampant misleading claims about the capabilities of\u00a0AI\u00a0and describes the serious harms\u00a0AI\u00a0is already causing in how it\u2019s being built, marketed, and used in areas such as education, medicine, hiring, banking, insurance, and criminal justice. The book explains the crucial differences between types of\u00a0AI, why organizations are falling for\u00a0AI snake oil, why\u00a0AI\u00a0can\u2019t fix social media, why\u00a0AI\u00a0isn\u2019t an existential risk, and why we should be far more worried about what people will do with\u00a0AI\u00a0than about anything\u00a0AI\u00a0will do on its own. The book also warns of the dangers of a world where\u00a0AI\u00a0continues to be controlled by largely unaccountable big tech companies. By revealing\u00a0AI\u2019s limits and real risks,\u00a0AI Snake Oil\u00a0will help you make better decisions about whether and how to use\u00a0AI\u00a0at work and home.<\/p>\n

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Black cyclists: the race for inclusion<\/strong><\/a> by Robert J. Turpin, 2024.<\/p>\n

This book “explores the history and challenges faced by African American cyclists\u00a0within the broader context of racism in sports in the United States. The book delves into the societal barriers and the struggle for inclusion faced by\u00a0Black cyclists, highlighting their contributions and resilience. Turpin aims to shed light on the intersection of\u00a0race and sports, offering insights into how systemic racism has affected participation and recognition in cycling. The work is intended for readers interested in sports history, racial studies, and social justice, combining thorough research with personal anecdotes to provide a comprehensive view of the subject.”<\/p>\n

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Microbes\u00a0:\u00a0the unseen agents of climate change<\/strong><\/a> by David L. Kirchman, 2024.<\/p>\n

From heat waves and wildfires to flooding and record droughts, the impacts of climate change are now obvious. While the primary cause is the rise in greenhouse gases mainly from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum, the complete story behind greenhouse gases also involves\u00a0microbes\u00a0and what they are doing in natural ecosystems. Although\u00a0microbes\u00a0contribute to the problem by producing greenhouse gases, climate change would be even more severe if not for other\u00a0microbes\u00a0that consume greenhouse gases. Understanding and solving the biggest environmental problem facing us today depends on the smallest organisms,\u00a0microbes.<\/p>\n

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Social media and adolescent health<\/strong><\/a> by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2024.<\/p>\n

Social media\u00a0has been fully integrated into the lives of most\u00a0adolescents\u00a0in the U.S., raising concerns among parents, physicians, public\u00a0health\u00a0officials, and others about its effect on mental and physical\u00a0health. Over the past year, an ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine examined the research and produced this detailed report exploring that effect, and laying out recommendations for policymakers, regulators, industry, and others in an effort to maximize the good and minimize the bad. Focus areas include platform design, transparency and accountability, digital\u00a0media\u00a0literacy among young people and adults, online harassment, and supporting researchers.<\/p>\n

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The war on prices: how popular misconceptions about inflation, prices, and value create bad policy<\/strong><\/a> by Ryan A. Bourne, 2024.<\/p>\n

Was inflation’s recent spike exacerbated by corporate greed? Do rent controls really help the needy? Are U.S. health care\u00a0prices\u00a0set in a Wild West marketplace? Do women get paid less than men for the same work, and do they pay more than men for the same products? The\u00a0War on Prices\u00a0is an eye-opening book that answers all these burning questions and more, as top economists debunk popular misconceptions about inflation,\u00a0prices, and value. Market\u00a0prices\u00a0are under siege. The\u00a0war on prices\u00a0is waged most obviously with damaging government\u00a0price\u00a0controls and the harmful effects of central bank monetary mismanagement, as we saw with the recent inflation. Yet these bad policies are propped up by widespread, misguided public beliefs about the causes of inflation, the effects of\u00a0price\u00a0controls, and the inherent morality of market\u00a0prices. Breaking down these complex issues into three distinct sections?inflation,\u00a0price\u00a0controls, and value?this book both sheds light on long-standing contentions and brings economic theory and evidence to bear in today’s most contentious debates. Threaded through the book is a revealing truth: too many of us misunderstand the origin, role, and worth of market\u00a0prices\u00a0in our economy. The old insult goes that “economists know the\u00a0price\u00a0of everything and the value of nothing.” The\u00a0War on Prices\u00a0shows that good economists?and soon, you?can appreciate the value of unshackled market\u00a0prices\u00a0in delivering prosperity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For November, listed below are some recently acquired ebooks added to the RLB Library’s ebook collection. Respect and Loathing in American Democracy : Polarization, Moralization, and the Undermining of Equality by Jeff Spinner-Halev and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse, 2024. Respect is in Continue reading Ebooks to Read Now–New Titles for November Reading<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1200,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136,11,623,357],"tags":[729,595,719,625,616],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5156"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5156"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5176,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5156\/revisions\/5176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}