Global Metaphors: Modernity and the Quest for One World
The advent of the twentieth century saw an incredible advance in scientific technology. By the inter-war period of the 1920s and early 1930s cars, planes and radios were a part of everyday life, and science became a popular cult for a new age. Faith in science surged amidst an atmosphere of intellectual and social crisis.
Jo-Anne Pemberton looks in detail at the rhetoric used by the political classes of the time that propagated a vision of a new global unity, and reveals the way in which those same metaphors and imagery are used today in the rhetoric of globalization. Then, as now, the idea of "one world" was challenged by notions of manyness and multiplicity.
Drawing parallels between then and now, "Global Metaphors" reveals how much of the appeal of globalization rhetoric relies on shimmering technological fantasies about the future. Today this also incorporates images of the environment which are used to reinforce the idea of an interconnected world. While this seductive imagery is impelled at one level by the romance of scientific invention, Pemberton reveals the way in which it is also used to cement particular political, economic and cultural interests as universal goods. Arguing that our current debate about globalization is in effect a rerun of the same debate from the inter-war period, she explores why globalist thinking gains currency at particular moments in history, and looks beyond this to the interests, values and cultural biases it belies.
The book explores many similarities between early twentieth century discussions of modernity and late twentieth century debates about post modernity

Amusements in Mathematics

Mathematical essays and recreations
For nearly a century, this sparkling classic has provided stimulating hours of entertainment to the mathematically inclined. The problems posed here often involve fundamental mathematical methods and notions, but their chief appeal is their capacity to tease and delight. In these pages you will find scores of 11 recreations" to amuse you and to challenge your problem-solving facilities-often to the limit.

Advances in Web-based Education: Personalized Learning Environments
Advances in technology are increasingly impacting the way in which curriculum is delivered and assessed. The emergence of the Internet has offered learners a new instructional delivery system that connects them with educational resources. Advances in Web-Based Education: Personalized Learning Environments covers a wide range of factors that influence the design, use and adoption of personalized learning environments, and it shows how user and pedagogical considerations can be integrated into the design, development and implementation of adaptive hypermedia systems to create effective personalized learning environments.