Featured Items – ‘Future Flooding’

FORESIGHT
Future Flooding - Executive Summary
FORESIGHT, 2004, 363.349 FOR

The severe flooding that has dominated the news over the last week has brought renewed focus to questions of the extent to which climate change is having a tangible impact our lives at present, as well as the efforts being made by government to protect us from an increasingly unstable climate.

Foresight: Future Flooding is a report published in 2004 by the Foresight Programme. The aim of the report was primarily to examine the developing needs of flood and coastal defences between the years 2030 and 2100 in order to inform long-term policy. However it also analysed the flood defence position at the time of publication and estimated that 4 million people were at risk of flooding, constituting a property value of £200 billion.

In terms of current expenditure, the report estimated estimated that "flooding, and managing it, cost the UK around £2.2 billion each year: we currently spend around £800 million per annum on flood and coastal defences; and, even with present flood defences, we experience an average of £1,400 million of damage." Future Flooding was seen as an important warning for government at the time of publication and was given significant media coverage, however three years on government spending on flood defences and flood management remains roughly the same. When fielding questions in Parliament regarding government spending on flood defences and flooding management, new Environment Secretary Hilary Benn pointed to the fact that the government were well ahead of the preset target of increasing spending on flood prevention to £1 billion a year by 2024.

The full report and executive summery are available online through Foresight. A hard copy of the Executive Summery is available to borrow from the RSA library.

View pictures of flood hit areas from The Guardian.

Read a report by the London Assembly Environment committee examining the risk of future flooding in the Thames Gateway, entitled London Under Threat.

For information on the current flood situation, and to view a flood map of your area, visit the Environment Agency.

JRF Report – Transforming Places

Gordon Brown’s decision to include a housing minister in his cabinet gives a strong indication that housing will be a key component of the “new challenges” facing his government. Yet Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation, David Orr, has issued a clear reminder that there is nothing new about the current housing problem facing Gordon Brown’s government. Speaking at yesterday’s thuRSdAy debate entitled “Is our obsession with home ownership bad for Britain?", Mr Orr commented that senior figures within the housing sector had been warning both Labour and Conservative governments about the developing problem since 1995.

Discussing both the need to change public attitudes towards the relative values of home ownership and renting, as well as the need to build more quality affordable homes, Mr Orr argued that the estimated 1.6 million households in Britain currently on council and housing association waiting lists illustrated an institutionalised lack of housing supply. He also discussed the way in which private housing development currently operates, pointing towards larges amounts of land that is owned by private property developers and has been granted planning permission, but is intentionally left undeveloped for long periods to ensure housing demand remains as high as possible.

Mr Orr also made reference to the recent report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which looked at neighbourhood housing markets throughout the 1990’s and early 2000’s, and found that “new social housing appears more positive than negative in its direct effects on price level and change, particularly at local authority level” and that “new social housing tends to have a positive effect on new private building”.

The issue of how to go about building new affordable good quality homes was addressed by Dr Oliver Marc Hartwich who discussed the need to “incentivise planning” by following the example set by countries such as Germany and Switzerland, in which local communities welcome the building of new homes in their area because the taxes generated by more people living there means more funding to improve public services and potentially even a lower rate of tax in the area. He also argued that residents should be more involved in the planning process in their particular area. Particularly in more rural areas, he suggested that communities would be more receptive to and able to see the benefits of a project to build a hundred more homes in their town or village, rather than a central government dictate to build 250,000 more homes across a particular region.

A copy of the full Joseph Rowntree Foundation report "Transforming Places" is available to download.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has also recently launched a new initiative looking at “social evils” with a lecture at the RSA entitled “What are the 21st Century's Social Evils?".

Both of the RSA Lectures mentioned above will soon be available to download as Audio Files here.

RSA Library Update - July 2007

What follows is a complete list of RSA library acquisitions for the month of July 2007. Fellows are welcome to e-mail library@rsa.org.uk if they wish to borrow any of these items, or search the library catalogue for thousands of other titles....

000s – Generalities

Derek M. Powazek
Design for Community: the Art of Connecting Real People in Virtual Places
£23.50, 2002, 005.72 POW
As community features keep cropping up on even the simplest Web site, it's important for Web designers and developers to understand how these features work and the best way to--or not to--implement them. The Web site for the book www.designforcommunity.com serves as an interactive example and legitimate online community for readers of this book. It incorporates all the examples and suggestions outlined in the text and fosters a direct online community, not only between readers, but between the author and readers as well. Each chapter opens with an in-depth explanation of a single issue, from practical issues like email and list moderation to more conceptual issues like trust and intimacy. These discussions lay the groundwork and provide an even-handed explanation of the issues, as well as advocate for the right way to solve the problems, based on the author's years of experience.

100s – Philosophy & Psychology

Jerome Bindi (ed.)
The Future of Values: 21st Century Talks
UNESCO Publishing/Berghahn Books, 2004, 121.8 BIN
The second anthology originating from UNESCO's “21st-Century Talks”, The Future of Values brings together 50 scientists and researchers from all over the world to redefine and anticipate the values of tomorrow, and reflect on the direction these values may lead humanity.

Arlene Judith Klotzko
A Clone of Your Own?: The Science and Ethics of Cloning
Oxford University Press, 2005, 174.29 KLO
Describing the new world of possibilities that can be glimpsed over the horizon, the author explains that the technology to create clones of living beings already exists, inaugurated in 1996 by Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from a single adult cell, and shows why the prospect of human cloning triggers our hopes.

200s – Religion

300s – Social Sciences

Arun Maira
Remaking India: One Country, One Destiny
Response Books, 2005, 306.309 MAI
In this book, one of India's foremost business consultants provides an invaluable insight into India's current economic problems and how they can be resolved. Taking a close look at the current scenario as well as analyzing the future, The Remaking of India discusses various critical issues including: planning and legislating for holistic growth and development; what businesses need from the government to grow in the right direction; the need for collaboration between business and government; and corporate responsibility and its role in growth and development.

Anna Coote & Jo Lenaghan
Citizens' Juries: Theory into Practice
IPPR, 1997, 323.042 COO
This influential IPPR report examines the benefits of greater public involvement in decision-making and the role that Citizens’ Juries can play in this.

Clare Delap
Making Better Decisions: Report of an Ippr Symposium on Citizens
Institute for Public Policy Research, 1998, 323.042 DEL
Making Better Decisions reports the reactions to IPPR’s pilot citizens’ juries and their implications for democratic practice. It is a useful introduction to work in the area of public involvement in decision-making.

Miranda Lewis
States of Reason: Freedom, Responsibility and the Governing of Behaviour Change
IPPR, 2007, 323.042 LEW
Public behaviour has long been the concern of government. States need to maintain order, prevent citizens from harming each other and promote the public good. In this report IPPR asks what the rationale is for state interventions in public behaviour and what principles should guide public policy when the state seeks to act. The report develops a framework setting out when and how government intervention in public behaviour is justified. It brings together insights from different policy areas but focuses in particular on three examples: anti-social behaviour, climate change, and personal finance.

Paddy Ashdown
Swords and Ploughshares: Bringing Peace to the 21st Century
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2007, 327.172 ASH
The men and women of the British armed forces are currently engaged in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans in 'peacekeeping operations'. How do we avoid these kind of missions turning into long-term entanglements, like the current disaster that is Iraq? How do we bring our soldiers home? And what do we do about 'failed states' that are havens for gangsters and terrorists?

Larbi Bouguerra
Water Under Threat
Zed, 2006, 333.91 BOU
Water Under Threat asks the big questions about the enormously important political and geo-strategic issue of water. Does water have a price? Is it a right or a need? Is there a water crisis? Will wars be fought over water? Should we be worried about water pollution? Can the available technological solutions keep it under control? This richly documented book makes the case for a society that is more economical with water, and calls for global management of water resources, in a spirit of solidarity, openness and respect for the rules of democracy.

Adam Marshall & Ben Harrison
Connecting Cities: Local Transport, National Connectivity and Economic Growth
Centre for Cities, 2007, 354.76 MAR
Connecting Cities reflects the views of local stakeholders in five of England's regional cities, where local transport has been the subject of intense debate in recent months. The report is based on a series of five seminars and brings together a range of messages for national decision-makers.

Thomas Pogge (ed.)
Freedom From Poverty as a Human Right: Who Owes What to the Very Poor?
Oxford University Press, 2007, 362.556 POG
Collected here in one volume are fifteen cutting-edge essays by leading academics which together clarify and defend the claim that freedom from poverty is a human right with corresponding binding obligations on the more affluent to practice effective poverty avoidance. The nature of human rights and their corresponding duties is examined, as is the theoretical standing of the social, economic and cultural rights.

400s – Language

500s – Natural Sciences & Mathematics

R.F Streater
Lost Causes in and Beyond Physics
Springer, 2007, 530 STR
Lost Causes in and Beyond Physics deals with a selection of research topics mostly from theoretical physics that have been shown to be a dead-end or continue at least to be highly controversial. Nevertheless, whether it is about Bohmian mechanics, physics from Fisher information or the quantum theory of the brain, small but dedicated research communities continue to work on these issues. R.F. Streater, renowned mathematical physicist, describes in this series of essays the work and struggle of these research communities, as well as the chances of any breakthrough in these areas.
Fellows’ Donation.

600s – Technology (Applied Sciences)

Atul Gawande
Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance
Profile Books Ltd, 2007, 617.092 GAW
The struggle to perform well is universal, but nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in medicine. In his new book, Atul Gawande explores grippingly how doctors strive to close the gap between best intentions and best performance in the face of obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable. Unflinching but compassionate, Gawande's investigation into medical professionals and their progression from good to great provides a detailed blueprint for success that can be used by people in every area of human endeavour.

John Maeda
The Laws of Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life
MIT, 2006, 650.1 MAE
This title presents ten laws of simplicity for business, technology, and design that teach us how to need less but get more. We sometimes find ourselves caught up in the simplicity paradox: we want something that's simple and easy to use - but also does all the complex things we might ever want it to do. Confronting this problem, John Maeda offers guidelines, ten laws for balancing simplicity and complexity in business, technology, and design - for needing less and actually getting more.

The Mind Gym
The Mind Gym: Give Me Time
Time Warner, 2006, 650.11 MIN
The problem of not having enough time is as old as time itself, and so are most of the proposed cures. The trouble is, they don't seem to work. The Mind Gym: Give me time proposes a radically different approach to time and how we use it. Combining extensive psychological research with five years of testing amongst The Mind Gym's 100,000 members, this book offers practical solutions that will make you feel great about how your time is spent.

Thomas W. Malone
The Future of Work: How the New Order of Business Will Shape Your Organization, Your Management Style, and Your Life
Harvard Business School, 2004, 658.402 MAL
From a renowned visionary on organizational theory, The Future of Work provides the first workable model for creating and managing within the organization of the future. Malone shows us that our current notions about decentralization and empowerment merely scratch the surface of what will be possible as technological and economic forces render command and control management obsolete. In its place will be a coordinate and cultivate approach that will spawn entirely new types of decentralized organizations - from internal markets to democracies to loose hierarchies that reap the scale and knowledge efficiencies of large organizations while enabling the freedom, flexibility, and human values that drive smaller firms.

Mark Earls
Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing our True Nature
John Wiley, 2007, 658.834 EAR
Understanding that unless you have a good explanation of mass behaviour, you'll have little chance of altering it, Herd reveals that most of us in the West have completely misunderstood the mechanics of mass behaviour because we have misplaced notions of what it means to be a human being. With a host of examples from Peter Kay and urinal etiquette to Apple and Desmond Tutu, Mark Earls offers the most radical, controversial and significant new theory of consumer behaviour in a generation.

700s – The Arts

Architecture for Humanity (ed.)
Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises
Thames & Hudson, 2006, 720.869 ARC
Design Like You Give a Damn is the first book to gather projects conceived and executed by architects and designers under the aegis of Architecture for Humanity, a relief organization dedicated to promoting architectural and design solutions to global, social and humanitarian crises. The book showcases about forty projects from the past decade, including schemes in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iran, with detailed descriptions for each, illustrated by stunning colour photographs and architectural drawings.

Simon Bradley
St Pancras Station
Profile, 2007, 725.31 BRA
An iconic London landmark of Gothic dream palace and futuristic train shed - built in the 1860s for the new Midland Railway line into London, St. Pancras is soon to be reincarnated as the main international gateway from London to the Continent. Simon Bradley examines this fascinating story of changes in taste and of our understanding of the past. This book is a reminder of the revolutionary effects of the railway and of how the innovations of the Industrial Revolution have weathered subsequent technological change. St. Pancras demands to be understood for the continuing thrall in which great urban monuments can hold us.

Rod Sheard
The Stadium: Architecture for the New Global Culture
Tuttle, 2005, 725.827 SHE
Through recent high-profile work of HOK Sport, the world's leading stadium architects, this book examines the increased significance and value of the stadium as an architectural icon.

Arnold Schwartzman
London Art Deco
Aurum, 2007, 745.2 SCH
The style that subsequently became known as Art Deco first came to prominence at the Paris Exposition of 1925. The version that then developed and flourished in Britain was less florid than the French or American strands, and reflected, in particular, the British love of decorative detail. For this survey of London's rich trove of Art Deco treasures, RDI faculty member Arnold Schwartzman has photographed not just landmark buildings like the Savoy Hotel and the Hoover factory, but also department stores, cinemas and theatres, underground stations and many other buildings in which stunning exteriors or interiors survive, in whole or in part, to remind us of the city's rich legacy from the Deco period.

Alastair Fuad-Luke
The Eco-Design Handbook: a Complete Sourcebook for the Home and Office
Thames & Hudson, 2006, 745.4 FUA
The Eco-Design Handbook is the first book to present the best-designed objects for every aspect of the home and office, including the most environmentally sound materials and building products. The book contains three essential components. An introduction puts forward the history and latest thinking in green design strategies. Its core comprises two sections devoted to detailed illustrated descriptions of objects for domestic living and products for the office or work-related activities. The third element is a vast reference source, defining available materials, from organic to specially developed eco-sensitive composites and then providing detailed information on manufacturers, design studios, green organizations and online information.

800s – Literature

900s – Geography & History

Simon Jenkins
Thatcher and Sons: A Revolution in Three Acts
Allen Lane, 2006, 941.085 JEN
The history of Britain in the last thirty years, under both Conservative and Labour governments, has been dominated by one figure - Margaret Thatcher. Her election marked a decisive break with the past and her premiership transformed not just her country, but the nature of democratic leadership. In his 'argued history', Simon Jenkins analyses this revolution from its beginnings in the turmoil of the 1970s through the social and economic changes of the 1980s. Was Thatcherism a mere medicine for an ailing economy or a complete political philosophy? And did it eventually fall victim to the dogmatism and control which made it possible? This is the story of the events, personalities, defeats and victories which will be familiar to all those who lived through them, but seen through a new lens. It is also an argument about how Thatcher's legacy has continued down to the present. Not just John Major, but Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are her heirs and acolytes. And as the Conservative party reinvents itself as a viable political force once again, is the age of Thatcher finally over?

David Kynaston
Austerity Britain, 1945-1951
Bloomsbury, 2007, 941.085 KYN
In Austerity Britain, David Kynaston weaves a sophisticated narrative of how the victorious 1945 Labour government shaped the political, economic and social landscape for the next three decades, while also telling the stories of specific characters such as Judy Haines (a Chingford housewife) and Henry St John (a civil servant from Bristol). Deeply researched, often amusing and always intensely entertaining and readable, this volume offers an entirely fresh perspective on Britain during those six momentous years.

Paul Linebarger
Sun Yat Sen and the Chinese Republic
Read Books, 2006, 951.3 LIN
This edition of Sun Yat Sen and the Chinese Republic is a republishing of this classic and valuable Chinese history text from the early 1900’s.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Imperial Life in the Emerald City
Bloomsbury, 2007, 956.704 CHA
From a walled-off enclave of towering plants, smart villas and sparkling swimming pools - a surreal bubble of pure Americana known as the Green Zone - the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority, under imperial viceroy L. Paul Bremer III, attempted to rule Iraq in the first twelve months after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and internal documents, Rajiv Chandrasekaran tells the memorable story of this ill-prepared attempt to build American democracy in a war-torn Middle Eastern country.

Reference

International Who’s Who: 2008
Europa Publications, 2007, REF 920.009
First published in 1935, The International Who's Who 2008 is the ultimate source of biographical information on the world's most eminent figures.

Post War Britain - Ken Russell & David Kynaston

David Kynaston

Austerity Britain: 1945-51

Bloomsbury, 2007, 941.085 KYN

Discussing everything from the nature of 1950’s British society to his transition from stills photography to motion pictures, legendary British film director Ken Russell was in conversation at the RSA yesterday as part of our ongoing programme of lectures.

Russell was prompted to speak at the RSA by the discovery of a large number of negatives from photographs he created in the 1950’s, that until recently were lost. Discovered in the archives of the TopPhoto Picture Library, the images have gradually been scanned, and with the use of digital technology, are now available to view in an online exhibition. The collection of "lost" 1950s photographs can also be viewed in an exhibition hosted by the Proud Galleries, located just down the road from the RSA House on the corner of Buckingham and John Adam Streets.

Chairing and also taking part in the discussion was celebrated historian David Kynaston, who has recently published the book Austerity Britain: 1945-51 which charts the period from the end of WW2 right up to the period captured by Russell’s photographs. Using a variety of anecdotal, visual and historical evidence, these two men were able to paint a vivid picture of a British people at the beginning of a new modern era, still tied to the economic and social constraints of war yet simultaneously looking to the future.

This future was encapsulated for Russell in the faces of “Teddy Girls”, less famous than their male counterparts, but representing a new breed of young modern girls desperately seeking fun and social freedom, having grown up with the constraints of war. Yet his pictures also present a landscape of poverty and even war. Bomb sights, left uncleared for a decade after the falling of the bombs that created them, provided venues for teddy girls to meet and for children, often unsupervised, to play in.

Despite the marginal time gap, many of the subjects of Russell's pictures could well be the faces of the characters described by Kynaston in Austerity Britain. Using specific characters such as Judy Haines (a Chingford housewife) and Henry St John (a civil servant from Bristol), Kynaston creates an almost novelistic narrative that paints a vivid picture of a complex postwar society.

Read reviews of Austerity Britain from The Guardian and The Observer.

Austerity Britain is available to borrow from the RSA Library.

RSA Library Web Pages & New Information Resources Section

The RSA is currently undertaking a complete redesign of our website, the first stage of which is already complete. As part of these changes the Library & Archive pages have been updated, with a focus on a simpler more usable layout, and including a new Information Resources section. This section contains easily assessable information on the long history of the RSA, our historic house and our fellowship. Whether a list of the most famous and notable people who have been fellows of the society, or a time line of our history, all can be found here.

For those with a particular interest in the history of the society, our archive now has its own blog, and the William Shipley Group is an independent body devoted exclusively to the history of the RSA.

Paddy Ashdown - Book & RSA Lecture

Paddy Ashdown
Swords and Ploughshares: Bringing Peace to the 21st Century
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2007, 327.172 ASH

Paddy Ashdown made headlines this weeks after it emerged that Gordon Brown had offered him the Cabinet post of Northern Ireland secretary, a move that has generated much interest and perhaps provided some further insight into what Gordon Brown was referring to earlier in the year when launching his campaign for the labour leadership, describing "new kind of politics". This has lead some to speculate over the potential for Brown to bring about a new approach to government characterised by "a very un-Blair openness", while others including many Lib Dems have criticised him for attempting to undermine and divide his opponents.

Many have engage in the debate over Brow's motives for the offer, as well as the Lib Dem reaction to it and the wider political implications. Yet relatively little attention has been placed on the great strength of Lord Ashdown's credentials in bringing about and maintaining peace in areas of conflict, or the contribution he might make to the foreign policy of any British government.

On Wednesday 27 June, Lord Ashdown will present a lecture at the RSA entitled Perspectives on Peacebuilding, in which he will outline his views on the challenge of bringing about peace and discuss ways in which we could go about it differently. His new book Swords and Ploughshares: Bringing Peace to the 21st Century is out now and currently available to borrow from the RSA Library.

Read a description of Swords and Ploughshares from the publisher, Orion Books.

RSA Library Update - June 2007

What follows is a complete list of RSA library acquisitions for the month of June 2007. Fellows are welcome to e-mail library@rsa.org.uk if they wish to borrow any of these items, or search the library catalogue for thousands of other titles....

000s – Generalities

Nassim Taleb
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Allen Lane, 2007, 003.54 TAL
Elegant, startling, and universal in its applications, The Black Swan is a concept that has implications on almost everything, from the rise of religions, to events in our own personal lives. A Black Swan is a highly improbable event with three principle characteristics: it is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random and more predictable than it was. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb reveals, we are hard-wired not to truly estimate risk, too vulnerable to the impulse to simplify, narrate, and categorize and not open enough to rewarding those who can imagine the 'impossible'.

100s – Philosophy & Psychology

Gordon Brown
Courage: Eight Portraits
Bloomsbury, 2007, 179.609 BRO
What is it that makes some men and women take difficult decisions and do the right thing against the odds when easier and far less dangerous alternatives are open to them? To answer this question, Gordon Brown explores the lives of eight outstanding twentieth-century figures including Edith Cavell, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.

200s – Religion

Scott Thomas
The Global Resurgence of Religion and the Transformation of International Relations: the Struggle for the Soul of the Twenty-First Century
Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, 201.727 THO
This book is about the global resurgence of culture and religion in international relations, how these social changes are transforming our understanding of International Relation theory, and the key policy-related issue areas in world politics.

Ziauddin Sardar
What do Muslims believe?
Granta, 2006, 297 SAR
The teachings of Islam emphasise unity, humility, forgiveness and love of God, the Qur'an sings the virtues of knowledge and rationality, and the life of Muhammad demonstrates the importance of tolerance, social justice and brotherhood. So, why is Islam so associated with hatred, violence, obstinacy and bigotry? Ziauddin Sardar examines the true teachings of Islam and explores the reality of the Muslim world today.

Ziauddin Sardar
Desperately Seeking Paradise: Journeys of a Sceptical Muslim
Granta Books, 2005, 297.092 SAR
Desperately Seeking Paradise is Ziauddin Sardar’s attempt to intellectually reconcile Islam with modernity through a vivid account of his explorations of different branches of Islam and of his travels throughout most of the Islamic world.

300s – Social Sciences

Hugh Barton
Shaping Neighbourhoods: a Guide for Health, Sustainability and Vitality
Spon, 2005, 307.12 BAR
Current policies in planning emphasise the importance of rejuvenating neighbourhoods. This new guide seeks to bridge the gap between rhetoric and reality, promoting an inter-professional and collaborative approach to making localities work. The objective is to design neighbourhoods that are healthy, safe, friendly and attractive for residents and users, whilst being more self-sustaining in terms of water, energy, local services and work.

Nassim Taleb
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
Penguin, 2007, 332.601 TAL
Everyone wants to succeed in life, but what causes some of us to be more successful than others? Is it really down to skill and strategy - or something altogether more unpredictable? This book is all about luck and more precisely, how we perceive luck in our personal and professional experiences.

Lynn Johannson
Going for the Green: A Manufacturers Guide to Lean and Green
E2 Management Corporation, 2006, 333.717 JOH
Simple to understand and designed specifically for small businesses, Going for the Green provides valuable insights into improving productivity, being more competitive and being considerate of the environment at the same time.

Anthony Mancuso
Nolo's Quick LLC: All You Need to Know about Limited Liability Companies
NOLO, 4th edition, 2007, 346.07 MAN
Nolo's Quick LLC explains, in plain English, the advantages and drawbacks of forming an LLC – including limiting your personal liability. It provides all the essential information business owners need to know about this valuable business option.

Richard E. Neustadt & Earnet R. May
Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision-Makers
Free Press, 1988, 350.007 NEU
Two professors of government analyze both the political disasters and successes of recent decades in order to provide telling lessons on how to use history to improve decision-making. A dozen case studies are drawn in great detail, explaining just how to examine a situation to help decide what to do today to improve the prospect for tomorrow.

Chris Goodall
How to live a Low-Carbon Life: The Individuals Guide to Stopping Climate Change
Earthscan, 2007, 363.738 GOO
How to Live a Low Carbon Life provides a comprehensive, one-stop reference guide to calculating individual carbon emissions. Covering all aspects of modern life from transport to home heating to where our food comes from and the difficult issue of holiday travel, the book provides easy-to-use tables for conducting a personal lifestyle 'carbon audit'.

Steve Rolles, Danny Kushlick & Mike Jay
After the War on Drugs: Options for Control
Transform Drugs Policy Foundation, 2006, 364.177 ROL
After the War on Drugs is a major new report examining the key themes in the drug policy reform debate, detailing how legal regulation of drug markets will operate, and providing a road map and time line for reform.
Fellow’s donation.

Tim Grant, & Gail Littlejohn (eds.)
Teaching about Climate Change: Cool Schools Tackle Global Warming
New Society Press, 2001, 372.357 GRA
Making reductions in greenhouse gas emissions is a national focus in developed countries all over the world. Schools are well-placed to combine conservation strategies with an education program that makes links between lifestyle choices and the future of the planet. This exciting resource provides educators at all grade levels with strategies to teach about global warming and engage students' interest in doing their part to help cool the planet.

400s – Language

500s – Natural Sciences & Mathematics

600s – Technology (Applied Sciences)

Denise Grocke & Tony Wigram
Receptive Methods in Music Therapy: Techniques and Clinical Applications for Music Therapy Clinicians, Educators and Students
Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2006, 615.851 GRO
This practical book describes the specific use of receptive (listening) methods and techniques in music therapy clinical practice and research, including relaxation with music for children and adults, the use of visualisation and imagery, music and collage, song-lyric discussion, vibroacoustic applications, music and movement techniques, and other forms of aesthetic listening to music. The authors explain these receptive methods of intervention using a format that enables practitioners to apply them in practice and make informed choices about music suitable for each of the different techniques.

David Parrish
T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity
Merseyside ACME, 2006, 658.11 PAR
T-Shirts and Suits is a book for creative entrepreneurs to help them to become even more successful by bringing together creative talent and business best practice.
Fellow’s donation.

700s – The Arts

Philip Jodidio
Calatrava: Santiago Calatrava – Complete Works 1979-2007
Taschen, 2007, 720.92 JOD/CAL
Santiago Calatrava is not only one of the world's most prominent architects, but is also an engineer, sculptor, and painter. His recent projects include the stadium for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and the new railway station in Liege, and he it the only architect ever to have his work exhibited at both the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Currently designing the main transport hub for the Ground Zero site in Manhattan, Calatrava is one of the greatest and most innovative architects alive and this book places his architecture in the context of his art, where nature meets engineering.

Neal Gabler
Walt Disney: the Biography
Aurum, 2007, 791.43 GAB
His classic films illuminated everyone's childhood. The theme parks are on every tourist itinerary. The movie empire is one of Hollywood's biggest players. Walt Disney is one of the few men who unquestionably changed our culture. Neal Gabler is the first author to have had complete access to the Disney Archives, enabling him to write the definitive biography of this remarkable man.

David Goldblatt
The Ball is Round: a Global History of Football
Viking, 2006, 796.334 GOL
In this extraordinary book, David Goldblatt describes the rise of football, from a chaotic folk ritual to a sector of the global-entertainment industry. It is the story of players and managers, fans and owners, clubs and national teams; a chronicle of who won and who lost. But it's also a history of states and markets, money and power, and, above all, how all these forces interact.

800s – Literature

900s – Geography & History

Andrew Duncan
Secret London
New Holland, 2006, 914.21 DUN
Aimed at visitors and Londoners alike, this fully updated edition of Secret London unlocks the city's most fascinating secrets - both above and below ground. Celebrated historian Andrew Duncan strips away bricks, mortar and tarmac to uncover parts of the capital that even born-and-bred Londoners may never have seen.

Satish Kumar & Freddie Whitefield (eds.)
Visionaries of the 20th Century: a Resurgence Anthology
Green Books, 2006, 920.009 KUM
Visionaries of the 20th Century brings together the lives and works of 100 great men and women who offered inspiration, hope and healing. The 20th century was marked by wars, dictatorships and environmental destruction, yet many individuals kept alive the hope of a sane and sustainable future through their example, ideas and vision.

Chris Stringer
Homo Britannicus: The Incredible Story of Human Life in Britain
Allen Lane, 2006, 936.101 STR
Homo Britannicus tells the epic history of life in Britain, from man's very first footsteps to the present day. Drawing on all the latest evidence and techniques of investigation, Chris Stringer describes times when Britain was so tropical that man lived alongside hippos and sabre tooth tiger, times so cold we shared this land with reindeer and mammoth, and times colder still when we were forced to flee altogether.

Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Yo, Blair!: Tony Blair's Disastrous Premiership
Politico's, 2007, 941.085 WHE
We want you to get up the arse of the White House and stay there. Blair aid Jonathan Powell to incumbent US Ambassador Christopher Meyer in 2001 Bestselling journalist and writer Geoffrey Wheatcroft's timely and coruscating polemic argues that Tony Blair has signally failed in his principal responsibility to defend the interests of his country. Instead, by taking us to war on America's coattails, by reducing British foreign policy to the level of self-righteous sound bites and expensive foreign travel, and by chasing his childish infatuation with his own image as an international statesman, Tony Blair has doggedly pursued the interests of the United States whilst blatantly disregarding the warnings from his own experts and the demands and needs of his own people.

Philip Humphrey
A Century of Colt Hill
Ellingham Press, 2006, 942.273 HUM
A Century of Colt Hill is an intimate portrait of a small Odiham community throughout the twentieth Century. Skilfully blending individual accounts of residents with a painstaking search through the archives, RSA Fellow Philip Humphrey has created an intriguing account of life in regional England.
Fellow’s donation.

Benjamin Franklin
The Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin
The Arion Press, 2006, 973.3 BEN
Commonly known as The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, this edition has been published in celebration of the three-hundredth anniversary of Benjamin Franklin's birth. A storyteller of genius, Franklin is a significant figure in American history and was strongly connected to the RSA.
Fellow’s donation.

Reference

Peter Marcan (ed.)
The Marcan Visual Arts Handbook: Where to go for British Contacts, Expertise and Speciality in the Fine and Applied Arts.
Peter Marcan, 2006, REF 702.541
This comprehensive visual arts resource contains nearly 2000 descriptive entries, which cover a range of British organisations and information sources, along with bibliographical listings.

DVD

David Attenborough
Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen it Before - The Complete Series
BBC DVD, 2006, DVD ATT
Narrated by David Attenborough, this hugely successful BBC documentary series allows the viewer to experience the earth as never before with groundbreaking footage of our planet and its wildlife.

New Book - On the Move

Bono
On the Move: Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, Washington DC, 2 February, 2006
W Pub. Group, 2007, 261.8 BON

“6,500 Africans are still dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug store. This is not about charity, this is about Justice and Equality." – Bono.

Based upon the speech given at the 2006 National Prayer Breakfast, On the Move is a shining example of Bono’s ability to awaken mass desire for change and illustrates just why he has become so influential in the continuing struggle to end poverty in Africa. Whether using political means to lobby the leaders of the world’s most powerful nations, or, as in this example talking in religious terms by reflecting on his own faith and challenging people of all faiths to reach across boundaries and come together for a greater cause, Bono has proven himself to be an inspiring and powerful crusader against poverty.

Bono has once again made his significant presence felt both in the run up to and during the recent G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany. By drawing the attention of the world back to the promises made at the Gleneagles G8 summit and warning of a potential backslide at this years summit, in recent weeks Bono has helped to ensure that the G8 leaders have still been under pressure to deliver. He has also met with leaders including Angela Merkel and George W. Bush during the summit itself.

The result of the discussions about aid for Africa has been a restating of the promises made two years ago, including pledging $60bn to fight Aids and other diseases. Despite this, Bob Geldof, a close campaigning ally of Bono, has been quoted by the BBC as describing this pledge as ‘a total farce’.

New Book - 'Teaching About Climate Change'

Tim Grant
Teaching About Climate Change: Cool Schools Tackle Global Warming
New Society Publishers, 2001, 372.357 GRA

Following on from the success we have had with our Personal Carbon Trading Project CarbonLimited, on 5 June 2007 the RSA will launch ‘Carbon Control’ a new initiative aimed at actively involving children between the ages of seven and fourteen in the issue of climate change. Timed to coincide with World Environment Day, the project will run a competition challenging children to come up with and share ideas for reducing carbon emissions, with environmentally friendly prizes to be won. Visitors to the site will also be able to use the ‘Carbonator’ to find out how their daily actions can help to reduce climate change.

The vital role of educating young people about environmental issues within schools, as a means of promoting social change, has been well publicised by organisations such as the magazine Green Teacher. Available to borrow from the RSA Library, Teaching About Climate Change is an anthology produced by the magazine offering a framework for teaching fundamental concepts and contains a variety of activities that can be undertaken in school, at home or in the community.

The Carbon Control website also contains resources for teachers available to download, enabling them to plan lessons at both the Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 level.

Mass Collaboration at the RSA

Don Tapscott & Antony D. Williams

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything

Portfolio, 2006, 658.046 TAP

A wiki is a website that allows visitors to add, remove, and edit content, opening up new opportunities for mass collaboration. The full implications of this new method of exchanging ideas and information are still emerging. Some leaders are sceptical of the ability of large and interchangeable online communities to create value, and are also weary of the challenge they may present to traditional forms of business and government in terms of ownership and control of information and services. However many groups, the RSA included, are excited by the possibilities wiki's create. Wikinomics is a book that makes a major contribution to our general understanding of the potential of Wiki's, and is based on a $9 million research project lead by co-author Don Tapscott. The RSA itself will be hoping to publicise the potential value of mass online collaboration and discuss some of the issues surrounding it through a lecture taking place on Friday 25 May entitled The Social Impact of the Web: Society, Government and the Internet.

With 26,000 Fellows dedicated to supporting our work, and each able to contribute their own individual ideas and perspective, the RSA is currently making every effort to get fellows talking and working together both in person and via the Internet...

Our Programme Department is currently running its very own Ideas Wiki, through which any Fellow can contribute to the development of ideas for future RSA projects.

The RSA Fellows Forum is another more general means by which any fellow can start or contribute to a debate. The current question being posed in our Fellow2Fellow feature is 'Is yours a responsible workplace?’. Why not log in and get involved?

Documentary Films at the RSA

Molly Dineen: The Lie of the Land

From Al Gore's high profile call for action against climate change in An Inconvenient Truth to the BBC’s ground breaking nature series Planet Earth, the RSA Library aims to make some of the most interesting and thought provoking documentary and factual based films available to all RSA Fellows. Expanding on this resource, the RSA is also about to embark on the 'RSA Screens', a new initiative that combines screenings of new and topical documentaries with discussion and debate about the issues addressed in the films.

The RSA Screens series will kick off on Monday 21st May when, in partnership with Channel 4, the RSA will screen Molly Dineen's documentary The Lie of the Land, an award-winning film in which Dineen chronicles the decline of Britain’s small-holding, independent farming industry as the might of the ‘super’market reigns all-powerful. Sensitively depicted, the film charts the daily life of farmers and agricultural workers, exploring the destructive impact of disease, unsustainable development and how this has been exacerbated by legislation.

Since first being aired on Channel 4 at the beginning of May 2007 the documentary has generated a great deal of interest, including a review in The Observer Newspaper. This RSA screening will be of particular interest as after the screening Molly Dineen will be in conversation with journalist and former editor of The Independent and Independent on Sunday Rosie Boycott, when they will discuss the film and more generally the current threat to Britain’s rural economy and traditional way of life.

For a full list of DVD's available to borrow from the RSA Library, please visit the online library catalogue and search for "DVD".

RSA Library Update - May 2007

What follows is a complete list of RSA library acquisitions for the month of May 2007. Fellows are welcome to email library@rsa.org.uk if they wish to borrow any of these items, or search the library catalogue for thousands of other titles....

000s – Generalities

100s – Philosophy & Psychology

Charles Reed
The Price of Peace: Just War in the Twenty-First Century
Cambridge University Press, 2007, 172.42 REE
The Price of Peace argues that the lively political and public debates on war and morality since the Cold War call for a re-examination of the ‘just war’ tradition. Charles Reed suggests that despite fluctuations and transformations in international politics, the just war tradition continues to be relevant, but needs to be reworked to respond to the new challenges to international security represented by the end of the Cold War and the impact of terrorism.

Marc D. Hauser
Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong
Little, Brown, 2007, 153.8 HAU
Temptation and control are like two players in an arms race. In this book, Harvard academic Marc Hauser evaluates recent developments in evolutionary biology, cognitive science, developmental psychology, economics and anthropology to provide a new way of understanding the tension between temptation and control.

Philip G. Zimbardo
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
Random House, 2007, 155.962 ZIM
What makes good people do bad things? How can moral people be seduced to act immorally? Renowned social psychologist Philip Zimbardo has the answers, and in The Lucifer Effect he explains the myriad of reasons why we are all susceptible to the lure of "the dark side."

200s – Religion

300s – Social Sciences

Dennis Bailey
The Open Society Paradox: Why the 21st Century Calls for More Openness-Not Less
Potomac Books Inc, 2006, 323.097 BAI
How do we protect an open society from those who would use its freedoms against us? How does our society ensure security and, at the same time, safeguard civil liberties? This new book challenges the conventional wisdom of those on both sides of this debate - those leaders who want unlimited authority versus those who would sacrifice security to protect individual privacy.

Moazzam Begg
Enemy Combatant: the Terrifying True Story of a Briton in Guantanamo
Pocket Books, 2006, 323.49 BEG
Moazzam Begg is an ordinary man who has endured an extraordinary fate. Imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit and whose precise nature has never been determined; as far as the US government was concerned, it was enough to label him an 'enemy combatant'

Elinor Osrtom
Governing the Commons: the Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action
Cambridge University Press, 1990, 333.2 OST
The governance of natural resources used by many individuals in common is an issue of increasing concern to policy analysts. After critiquing the foundations of policy analysis as applied to natural resources, Elinor Ostrom here provides a unique body of empirical data to explore conditions under which common pool resource problems have been satisfactorily or unsatisfactorily solved.

Charles Leadbeater & James Wilsdon
The Atlas of Ideas: How Asian Innovation Can Benefit Us All
Demos, 2007, 338.95 LEA
The rise of China and India will remake the innovation landscape. US and European pre-eminence in science-based innovation can no longer be taken for granted, and nor can the knowledge jobs that have depended upon it. This collection of reports from Demos is the first comprehensive account of the rising tide of Asian innovation.

James Wilsdon & James Keeley
China: The Next Science Superpower?
Demos, 2007, 338.95 WIL
One of a collection of four reports looking a the growth of innovation in Asia, China: the Next Science Superpower? analyses the potential for China to lead the world in scientific endeavour and illustrates the valuable research being undertaken by Demos in this area.

Molly Webb
South Korea: Mass Innovation Comes of Age
Demos, 2007, 338.95 WEB
South Korea’s transformation from ‘hermit kingdom’ to a global technology power has been the most dramatic development story of the last half century. This report looks at how they must challenge the structures which paved the way for their own emergence to have continued success in the knowledge age.

Kirsten Bound
India: The Uneven Innovator
Demos, 2007.338. 95 BOU
Understanding the future of science and innovation in India is not simply a matter of benchmarking its success against that of Europe or the US. Instead, it depends on recognising how India can pioneer an interdependent model of knowledge creation.

Kevin Donovan
Innovate or Else?: The Dynamics of Innovation in Teaching and Learning in the Learning and Skills Sector
LSDA, 2006, 379 DON
This fascinating report, commissioned by the Learning and Skills Development Agency, explores the vital role of innovation in developing ideas and creating knowledge within the Learning and Skills Sector.

400s – Language

500s – Natural Sciences & Mathematics

600s – Technology (Applied Sciences)

Guy Claxton & Bill Lucas
Be Creative: Essential Steps to Revitalize Your Work and Life
BBC Books, 2004, 650.1 CLA
With practical exercises and inspiring examples, Guy Claxton and Bill Lucas demonstrate how to break away from old habits and free up your mind in order to achieve harmony, balance and personal success through creativity.

Marilyn Pincus
Managing Difficult People: a Survival Guide for Handling Any Employee
Managing Difficult People provides managers with personality profiles of the ten most common types of difficult people. The author offers positive, proactive approaches for targeting telltale behaviour and putting an end to office strife so that, regardless of the situation, managers have the tools they need to respond properly and take control.
Adams Media, 2004, 658.304 PIN

700s – The Arts

William Lidwell
Universal Principles of Design: 100 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach Through Design
Rockport, 2003, 745.403 LID
This comprehensive, cross-disciplinary encyclopedia of design pairs clear explanations of every design concept with visual examples of the concepts applied in practice. From the "80/20" rule to chunking, from baby-face bias to Occam's razor and from self-similarity to storytelling, every major design concept is defined and illustrated for readers to expand their knowledge.

800s – Literature

900s – Geography & History

Philip Humphrey
A Century of Colt Hill
Ellingham, 2006, 942.273
A Century of Colt Hill considers the fortunes of a small Odiham community throughout the twentieth Century. Skilfully blending the personal accounts of residents with detailed archival research, Philip Humphrey explores the many social and physical changes that have occurred in Colt Hill throughout the century and analyses the factors that have contributed to the longevity of the community.
RSA Fellow’s donation.

Victoria Schofield
Afghan Frontier: Feuding and Fighting in Central Asia
Tauris Parke, 2003, 954.912 SCH
Drawing on written records, Victoria Schofield unravels the history of the North-West Frontier from Alexander the Great to the kidnapping of Molly Ellis; from the languages and religions to the women; from skirmishes, wars and the mujahedin struggle with the Soviet Union, to the more recent tragic history which continues to unfold there.

Reference

European Commission
Europe in Figures: Eurostat Yearbook 2006-07
European Commission, 2007, REF 330.94 EUR
A complete statistical guide to Europe for the year 2006-07.

RSA Library Wireless Upgrade

We are pleased to announce that the RSA Library has recently completed an upgrade to the Wireless Connection it provides for the use of RSA Fellows.

This upgrade has been designed to enable Fellows to far more quickly and efficiently gain access to the internet through their own laptops when visiting the library. The need for Fellows to change the settings on their own computers has been greatly reduced, web based services that may have previously blocked will now be available, and Fellows with a VPN (Virtual Private Network) set up will now have uninterrupted access to their non web-based email (Outlook, etc.).

In order to continually protect the security of the Library's wireless connection, we have decided to retain the username and password operated system that we have run up to now. When you initially open up the web browser of your choice, you will immediately be presented with the screen opposite:

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these changes to the library's wireless connection, please do get in contact with us.

Like the entire RSA House, the Library will be closed for the Bank Holiday on Monday 7 May.

New Book - Universal Principles of Design

William Lidwell
Universal Principles of Design: 100 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach Through Design.
Rockport Publishers, 2003, 745.403 LID

Both a quick access resource for designers, and an easily digestible introduction to the fundamentals of design, Universal Principles of Design is a valuable tool for anyone wishing to engage with the design process.

As well as unpacking major subjects within design such as 'Accessibility' and 'Aesthetics', Universal Principles of Design also explains theories such as the 80/20 rule, which highlights the need to evaluate each design element as '80 percent of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20 percent of the variables in that system'.

The book provides concise yet detailed explanations to aid our appreciation of methods such as consistency in branding, a concept that we all know to be an effective advertising technique without necessarily having a full understanding of why. Delving deeper into the importance of human responses to design, the book contains a strong coverage of human factors such as 'Attractiveness Bias' and 'Mimicry' illustrating that the way we engage with a product psychologically is as important as the way we use it physically.

Universal Principles of Design could certainly provide valuable insight for anyone wanting to be involved in any of the design competitions being run by the RSA in 2007. Once again RSA Design Directions has a number of awards on offer, including the recently launched 'Flying Start 2007 ' for young design/creative graduates with an interest in starting up a design-led enterprise. For those wanting to gain a better understanding of exactly what Design Directions is all about, a free publication is available entitled Design Directions: Three Years of Designing the Difference. To receive a copy of this publication, please contact janet.hawken@rsa.org.uk.

RSA Arts & Ecology will also be encouraging general thinking about design solutions in 2007. Engaging in the need for arts and design to tackle environmental issues, we will soon be launching our 'Bat House Project' which is a competition to build a home for bats in London and will be open to architects, the general public and school children, with a prize for each category.

RSA Ethical Futures - Loving the Machine

Timothy N. Hornyak

Loving the Machine: the Art and Science of Japanese Robots
Kodansha International, 2006, 629.892 HOR

As advancements and breakthroughs in science and technology become increasingly frequent and further reaching, scientists, politicians, the media and society as a whole are beginning to think more and more deeply about the possibilities for human existence in the future.

Long existing in our imaginations through science fiction books and films, ideas such as dramatically extended or infinite human life expectancy or robots that replicate human actions and emotions are beginning to enter the realms of possibility. There are scientists who believe that the first human to live to 1000 has already been born, and as the book Loving the Machine illustrates, robots or 'humanoids' of various kinds are already being developed as commercial products in Japan.

The book, supported by author Timothy N. Hornyak's blog, is more than a celebration of robots and their potential impact on our lives. It focuses on Japan, not simply because this is where the biggest developments are being made, but also because of the unique attitude the country holds toward robots. Hornyak informs us that Japan is 'creating what will likely be the world's first mass robot culture'. What is perhaps most interesting is the Japanese attraction to specifically designing robots with human characteristics that encourage us to express the kind of emotions towards robots that we would only normally express towards other living things. Indeed, the Japanese economy is the only one that has really shown an interest in developing robots as mass consumer goods, designed to entertain people as pets or even friends.

However, a future in which humans have relationships with robots that replicate their relationships with other humans creates another element of uncertainty surrounding the future relationship between human, 'post-human' and robotic states. To consider this and many other issues arising from the prospect of a 'post-human' world, the RSA Programme team has created an Ethical Futures Project to question how our society might ethically comprehend and deal with this challenge.