Johannes Gutenberg And The Shadow Of Bi Sheng

Without language, not much else would exist: no writing, no computer – as a matter of fact, no technical or medical progress that make our lives less painful, and easier indeed; but also not some horrors that characterize our world. In fact, language is what defines humans and distinguishes them from other living beings – and is the basis of all other developments. How is it possible that something as complex and fascinating as 'language' has come into being at all? How does language 'work'? And how did it develop? What is common to all languages – and why are there so many? Further questions are how man began to write, and how printing developed – in which languages? Why not in any language? And does this teach us anything for further developments? In trying to answer these and other questions, we experience an exciting history of scientific research.

Hugo winner Jim C. Hines's hilarious and clever Magic ex Libris series, where books come alive and libriomancer Isaac Vainio combats magical threats that spring from the page Five hundred years ago, Johannes Gutenberg discovered the art of libriomancy, allowing him to reach into books to create things from their pages. Gutenberg’s power brought him many enemies, and some of those enemies have waited centuries for revenge. Revenge which begins with the brutal slaughter of a wendigo in the northern Michigan town of Tamarack, a long-established werewolf territory. Libriomancer Isaac Vainio is part of Die Zwelf Portenære, better known as the Porters, the organization founded by Gutenberg to protect the world from magical threats. Isaac is called in to investigate the killing, along with Porter psychiatrist Nidhi Shah and their dryad bodyguard and lover, Lena Greenwood. Born decades ago from the pages of a pulp fantasy novel, Lena was created to be the ultimate fantasy woman, strong and deadly, but shaped by the needs and desires of her companions. Her powers are unique, and Gutenberg’s enemies hope to use those powers for themselves. But their plan could unleash a far darker evil…

PLEASE PROVIDE ?

In China the tradition of a book society is longer than anywhere else in the world. Chinese paper making, calligraphy and woodblock printing date from very early ages, but have for a very long time remained almost unknown to the Western world. At the IFLA satellite meeting “Chinese Written and Printed Cultural Heritage and Library Work” in Hangzhou in 2006 the richness of present day book historical research and library activities in China has been presented by more than sixty papers. This fine selection reflects the width and depth of this extremely important and immense Chinese heritage.

Ten grids that changed the world: the emergence and evolution of the most prominent visual structure in Western culture. Emblematic of modernity, the grid is the underlying form of everything from skyscrapers and office cubicles to paintings by Mondrian and a piece of computer code. And yet, as Hannah Higgins makes clear in this engaging and evocative book, the grid has a history that long predates modernity; it is the most prominent visual structure in Western culture. In The Grid Book, Higgins examines the history of ten grids that changed the world: the brick, the tablet, the gridiron city plan, the map, musical notation, the ledger, the screen, moveable type, the manufactured box, and the net. Charting the evolution of each grid, from the Paleolithic brick of ancient Mesopotamia through the virtual connections of the Internet, Higgins demonstrates that once a grid is invented, it may bend, crumble, or shatter, but its organizing principle never disappears. The appearance of each grid was a watershed event. Brick, tablet, and city gridiron made possible sturdy housing, the standardization of language, and urban development. Maps, musical notation, financial ledgers, and moveable type promoted the organization of space, music, and time, international trade, and mass literacy. The screen of perspective painting heralded the science of the modern period, classical mechanics, and the screen arts, while the standardization of space made possible by the manufactured box suggested the purified box forms of industrial architecture and visual art. The net, the most ancient grid, made its first appearance in Stone Age Finland; today, the loose but clearly articulated networks of the World Wide Web suggest that we are in the middle of an emergent grid that is reshaping the world, as grids do, in its image.

Michigan librarian Isaac, stripped of his power, teams up with fire-spider Smudge, dryad warrior Lena, and psychiatrist Nidhi in order to stop a banished queen who has returned in the body of a young girl.

Edwin Dingle's book Across China on Foot details his trip through Hong Kong and Shanghai, and finally into Tibet, where he would be one of the first Westerners to enter a Tibetan Monastery. There he learned certain advanced spiritual forms of yogic breathing and meditation, which later inform his spiritual practices. Later Dingle would change his name (who wouldn't?) to "Ding Le Mei," which was given to him by his spiritual guide in Tibet. This book is a recount of his trip through China in the early 1900s, and is good as a travelogue for that period: it's entertaining, has a solid amount of detail about cities and villages, contains elements of China's geography, politics, religion, native peoples, animals, and the difficulty of traveling through such unforgiving territory. Dingle falls into the category of gentleman explorers of China for whom the journey was far greater than the destination, preparation was minimal, and caution was ultimately thrown to the wind. As part of our mission to publish great works of literary fiction and nonfiction, Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. is extremely dedicated to bringing to the forefront the amazing works of long dead and truly talented authors.