New Life And New Civilizations

They said it couldn't be done ... all the myriad worlds which have been sought out and explored through more than 500 television episodes and nine Star Trek movies, mapped, illustrated and brought to life in the pages of a comprehensive Star Trek atlas. From the comparatively crowded space of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, home to Earth and Vulcan, Bajor and Betazed, the Cardassian Union and the Romulan and Klingon Empires; to the distant Gamma Quadrant controlled by the Dominion; to the far reaches of the Delta Quadrant, home space of the Borg, where of Federation explorers only the crew of the USS Voyager has ever been; NEW WORLDS, NEW CIVILIZATIONS catalogues peoples and planets from all four corners of the galaxy. Ever wondered where the blue-skinned Bolians originated from? Or what it is like on the permanently frozen homeworld of the bloodless Breen? From the first world that the first away team landed on under the command of Christopher Pike in the original pilot episode 'The Cage' (a world that has been off-limits to the Federation ever since), to the world of the Ba'ku as seen in 'Star Trek: Insurrection', all these and many more are described and depicted in all their fascinating detail by a team of star-studded contributors. Produced in the finest tradition of bestselling Star Trek illustrated reference from Pocket Books such as The Art of Star Trek and Where No Man Has Gone Before, NEW WORLDS, NEW CIVILIZATIONS will be an essential addition to every Trekker's shelves.

Dirt, soil, call it what you want—it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting book finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are—and have long been—using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations. A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, Dirt traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil—as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations.

"...examines the long history of Star trek in the four-color realm [comic books], featuring insightful essays from popular Trek comic scribes and novelists, as well as other experts"--Cover.

"Essays address philosophical aspects of the five television series and ten feature films that make up the Star Trek fictional universe"--Provided by publisher.

Captain Mackenzie Calhoun's journey is never less than fascinating, told here as only Peter David can tell it. A crewman has been murdered aboard the U.S.S. Trident, and all evidence points to Ensign Janos of the Excalibur. Captain Mackenzie Calhoun is reluctant to accept that Janos, a powerful non-humanoid whom the captain has known and trusted for years, could be a killer, and immediately launches an investigation into the crime. But this troubling murder mystery soon escalates into a full-fledged diplomatic crisis that threatens to pit Calhoun and Captain Elizabeth Shelby against the entire United Federation of Planets—and the Starship Enterprise™. Meanwhile, the turmoil involving Ensign Janos forces Calhoun to recall his own tempestuous past, his rocky relationship with a young Elizabeth Shelby—and a long-ago exploit that may have everything to do with the deadly emergency that now confronts them all!

The ultimate Star Trek visual history, complete with personal accounts, anecdotes, and full-color photos, this entertaining, informative book provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the world of Star Trek, and includes essays by the late master of science fiction, Isaac Asimov.

This book is an expanded version of The Rhythms of History, the book that made macro-History into a semi-quantitative Science. New features include: 1. an appendix showing how the history of Mayan civilization conforms to the book''s Theory of Civilizations including the latest information from the newly discovered hieroglyphic texts at Dos Pilas, Guatemala; 2. an appendix on the sub-Saharan African civilization, Great Zimbabwe, showing it fits the theory; 3. a comparison of the theory with Toynbee''s observations showing the many new features resulting from a quantitative theory; 4. numerous historic pictures and illustrations of the civilizations of Mankind including a number of newly found pictures from the nineteenth century; 5. a chapter describing the potentially disturbing implications of patterns in civilizations - Are we free? ? and the implications for the Philosophy of History; and 6. expanded comments in many sections such as the sections on the future of Humanity, the role of China, and the Islamic - West conflict. The book begins with a hard hitting, "tell it like it is" chapter on the current international situation with statements such as: "The United States and Western civilization is now engaged in a small Vietnam-style war on a global scale at the time of this writing. This war is still in the early stages of development. ... The attack on the World Trade Center by Muslim terrorists may have the same significance for Western civilization that the Gothic invasion of Rome itself in the prime of the Empire (the First Century AD) had for the future of Rome. They may be a premonition of things to come - not necessarily soon but perhaps in a few centuries. The Goths returned three centuries later and remained as permanent conquerors. ... Over the long term the West must free itself from a dependence on Muslim oil. Muslim oil revenues are the fuel for the development of weapons of mass destruction by Iran and Iraq. In the future they will supply the revenues of an expansionist Islam. ... As the silk trade looted the Roman Empire of its gold and reduced its economy, the trade in oil is looting the West of its prosperity and freedom of action. The rise and fall of oil prices has a significantly greater effect on the American and world economy than the raising and lowering of interest rates by central banks. " The book then describes a theory of civilizations that led to these observations. Currently unfolding events seem to be fulfilling the predictions which were made last year (including the new North Korean threat that seems to be consistent with a predicted breakdown in Japan ? North Korea will create major problems with Japan. As this is being written Japan is moving Aegis destroyers nearer to North Korea and preparing for defense.) THE EVENTS DESCRIBED IN THIS BOOK, AND ITS PREDECESSOR, APPEAR TO BE HAPPENING AS PREDICTED LAST YEAR. According to Theory of Civilizations the basis of civilizations was laid with a genetic mutation (found by Ding et al) 40,000 years ago that created bold enterprising individuals who became the leadership group of civilizations: a group that Toynbee called the "creative minority." When the world''s climate became warmer and more stable 10,000 years ago the seeds of civilizations began to germinate. Thus the origin of civilizations is tied to human genetics. The book then shows that a long-term social behavior pattern of mankind (based on four generation trends) causes civilizations to develop and "oscillate" in patterns of routs and rallies. Civilizations rise and fall due to their internal human dynamics. The theory of civilization is developed using equations and 68 diagrams that show a close detailed match between the theory and the actual history of all known Asian, European and African civilizations over the last 5,500 years. The theory projects the future of today''s civilizations (including the future of Western and Islamic civilizations). It also successfully describes the interaction of barbarians and civilizations, the interaction of two civilizations, the impact of modern technology on civilizations (it accounts for the Luddite reaction to the Industrial Revolution), the impact of major environmental events on civilizations (e.g. the collapse of Minoan civilization due to a volcanic eruption), and the disintegration of civilizations. It also accounts for the tremendous growth phases seen in many civilizations such as the building of the great pyramids in Egyptian civilizations. Based on the theory fifteen new civilizations are identified including new prehistoric Chinese and Egyptian civilizations. Having shown the success of the theory for earth civilizations it considers the form of extraterrestrial civilizations and calculates their impact on Western civilization should contact be established. The book also shows the need for the colonization of space and nearby planets if mankind is to progress in the future. The book analyzes the impact of the lengthening life spans of mankind on the future of civilizations. Predictions are made for the "state of the world" for 2050 and 2100. A detailed understanding the past enables the theory of civilizations to make predictions for the future. Defining Progress to be the sum of the world''s civilizations the book shows that Progress seems to be approximately linearly increasing over the last 5,500 years. A plot of Progress appears on the book''s cover (shown on this web page) together with the contributions of each civilization to Progress. (The vertical order of the civilizations in the plot is arbitrary. Older civilizations tend to be lower in the plot.) The book is a tour de force that makes History a Science rather than a collection of random events. It is the first detailed mathematical treatment of history. Although the book contains mathematics it is intended for the general reader as well as the mathematically inclined. There are copious verbal descriptions of the theory as well as many figures plotting the theory versus historical events. A qualitative, descriptive theory of civilizations is also presented that is like a "Dow Theory of Civilizations."

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,0, University of Frankfurt (Main) (Neue Englischsprachige Kulturen und Literaturen), language: English, abstract: "Space, the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go, where no one has gone before." - Opening credits of Star Trek: The Next Generation These are the opening lines of one of the most successful franchises of popular culture: Star Trek. In 1966 when the first episode of the science-fiction series “Star Trek” The Original Series was aired on US television author and creator Gene Roddenberry would not possibly have envisioned the cultural and political impact Star Trek would have even four decades later. He nevertheless envisioned very clearly that this “trek” would take its audience to “strange new worlds [...] and new civilizations”. That this would exactly fall into the field of the discourses of postcolonial studies is no mere coincidence. The opening credits very straightforwardly indicate what voyages the audience will participate in. The exploration of “strange new worlds” and “new civilizations” recalls the narratives of Imperialism and Colonialism. Accordingly Star Trek can be read as another form of travelogue. The purpose of this work is to establish the narratives of Star Trek as a travelogue in the context of imperialist and colonial discourses. Having done so, I will examine Star Trek’s standing within these discourses. My focus will be on the depiction of “the other” within Star Trek. On the basis of one episode of the TV series, Star Trek: The Next Generation I will juxtapose the argument of critics that Trek is either racist and imperialist in its conception or the depiction of a desirable Utopia.