Princeton University Press Blog
Mind over chatter since 1905
We highly recommend downloading or opening the source PDF for the sampler, available here: http://blog.press.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/PterosaursSampler.pdf
The embedded PDF below does not properly display the beauty of the cover, but you can still get a sense of the awesome content of the book. Happy Reading!
Want to learn more about this book? Check it out here: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9967.html
These are the best-selling books for the past week.
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No Joke: Making Jewish Humor by Ruth R. Wisse |
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Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson |
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The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking by Edward B. Burger & Michael Starbird |
![j9925[1]](http://blog.press.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/j99251.gif) |
The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order by Benn Steil |
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Picasso and Truth: From Cubism to Guernica by T.J. Clark |
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On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt |
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QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter by Richard P. Feynman |
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Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era by Joseph S. Nye, Jr. |
 |
The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors by Richard Crossley, Jerry Liguori & Brian Sullivan |
 |
Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History by Thomas Barfield |
Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle have created the most innovative and complete guide to warblers available in The Warbler Guide. In this video they describe the challenges in aging and sexing warblers and how the book helps develop this skill.
Click here to learn more about The Warbler Guide. The book is just in and started shipping to stores. Order a copy today!
This helpful sheet highlights the innovations in the book, too [PDF]
For more tips on how to use The Warbler Guide and how to identify warblers in the field, please see additional videos in this series.
Be among the first the check out our new biology catalog!
Of particular interest is The Princeton Guide to Evolution, a forthcoming comprehensive, concise, and authoritative reference to the major subjects and key concepts in evolutionary biology, from genes to mass extinctions. Edited by a distinguished team of evolutionary biologists, with contributions from leading researchers, the guide contains some 100 clear, accurate, and up-to-date articles on the most important topics in seven major areas: phylogenetics and the history of life; selection and adaptation; evolutionary processes; genes, genomes, and phenotypes; speciation and macroevolution; evolution of behavior, society, and humans; and evolution and modern society.
For further reading, check out John Tyler Bonner’s Randomness in Evolution. In this concise, elegantly written book, he makes the bold and provocative claim that some biological diversity may be explained by something other than natural selection.
Also be sure to note Daphne J. Fairbairn’s Odd Couples: Extraordinary Differences between the Sexes in the Animal Kingdom. While we joke that men are from Mars and women are from Venus, our gender differences can’t compare to those of other animals. Looking at some of the most amazing creatures on the planet, Odd Couples sheds astonishing light on what it means to be male or female in the animal kingdom.
We’ll also see you at the Society for the Study of Evolution’s annual meting June 21-25 in Snowbird, Utah at booth 14. Please join us Saturday, June 22 at 7:30 p.m. for a reception in celebration of the publication of Odd Couples: Extraordinary Differences between the Sexes in the Animal Kingdom and our forthcoming The Princeton Guide to Evolution. Meet the authors and editors, and enjoy wine and cheese!
A cartoon from Dr. Pat’s page on the University of Pennsylvania Museum’s website.
Patrick E. McGovern, author of Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture, spearheaded the research that further confirms Etruscans from Italy heavily influenced wine production in Lattara, an ancient harbor city in the south of France. There had been ancient documents and archaeological findings that already strongly suggested Etruscans presented wines to the Celt dwellers of France at trading stations in Lattara. McGovern and team’s findings only strengthen this notion.
Using biomolecular analysis, McGovern and researchers discovered that fifth century Etruscan pots used for transportation, known as amphorae, had traces of wine imbued with rosemary, basil, and thyme. McGovern’s research also establishes that the Celts living in Lattara began producing the wine at the close of the fifth century.
The team of researchers stumbled upon another fresh discovery: In the past, it was generally understood that limestone presses in Lattara were used to press olives. Using biomolecular anaylsis, just as they did with the amphorae, the group found that the presses were actually used for grapes.
To establish that the compressor was utilized to squash grapes, the researchers obtained consent to carve off a tiny portion of a limestone wine press. The sample was mailed to the University of Pennsylvania Museum, where procedures embracing mass spectrometry were employed to separate and classify chemical compounds present in the rock and earthenware.
The study was printed in the May 1 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Read the original article on The Sacramento Bee’s website: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/06/12/5488741/archaeologists-affirm-frances.html#storylink=cpy
Watch the video via YouTube: http://youtu.be/HjHwC75meuw
Ancient Wine
Patrick E. McGovern
The history of civilization is, in many ways, the history of wine. This book is the first comprehensive and up-to-date account of the earliest stages of vinicultural history and prehistory, which extends back into the Neolithic period and beyond. Elegantly written and richly illustrated, Ancient Wine opens up whole new chapters in the fascinating story of wine and the vine by drawing upon recent archaeological discoveries, molecular and DNA sleuthing, and the texts and art of long-forgotten peoples.
Patrick McGovern takes us on a personal odyssey back to the beginnings of this consequential beverage when early hominids probably enjoyed a wild grape wine. We follow the course of human ingenuity in domesticating the Eurasian vine and learning how to make and preserve wine some 7,000 years ago. Early winemakers must have marveled at the seemingly miraculous process of fermentation. From success to success, viniculture stretched out its tentacles and entwined itself with one culture after another (whether Egyptian, Iranian, Israelite, or Greek) and laid the foundation for civilization itself. As medicine, social lubricant, mind-altering substance, and highly valued commodity, wine became the focus of religious cults, pharmacopoeias, cuisines, economies, and society. As an evocative symbol of blood, it was used in temple ceremonies and occupies the heart of the Eucharist. Kings celebrated their victories with wine and made certain that they had plenty for the afterlife. (Among the colorful examples in the book is McGovern’s famous chemical reconstruction of the funerary feast–and mixed beverage–of “King Midas.”) Some peoples truly became “wine cultures.”
When we sip a glass of wine today, we recapitulate this dynamic history in which a single grape species was harnessed to yield an almost infinite range of tastes and bouquets. Ancient Wine is a book that wine lovers and archaeological sleuths alike will raise their glasses to.
The 
National Security Agency (NSA) has a secret program that allows the commission to gain access to user information stored by big-name internet organizations. Some of the most recognizable companies include Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and Skype.
29-year-old Edward Snowden, a mid-level IT worker contracted by the NSA, leaked top-secret NSA documentation about PRISM. PRISM tracks user information such as photos, content of e-mails, live chat, videos, and login alerts. Snowden is said to be hiding out in Hong Kong. All companies involved have allegedly denied allowing NSA to gain direct access to their databases. It is currently up for debate as to whether or not Snowden is a hero to the public or someone that acted recklessly, endangering the safety of all Americans.
PRISM is reported to have been authorized and enforced in 2007. President George Bush passed PRISM along with other changes to the US surveillance rules. President Barack Obama renewed the edict last year.
The Guardian via Getty Images — Edward Snowden speaks during an interview in Hong Kong.
KQED Forum with Michael Krasny is a live call-in program that presents wide-ranging discussions of local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews. On Tuesday, June 11, Krasny posted a session that includes political science expert and author of Secrets and Leaks: The Dilemma of State Secrecy, Rahul Sagar. Sagar is an Assistant Professor at Princeton University within the Department of Politics. Sagar has taken a firm stance that Snowden was “misguided” and his choice to leak information was ill-considered. He feels that Snowden has acted inappropriately by taking the law into his own hands. By exposing this information, Sagar believes Snowden acted wrongfully from a legal standpoint and should have pursued a safer avenue if he wanted his discovery to be revealed.
To hear more about PRISM and Sagar’s viewpoint on whistleblowing, listen to Krasny’s segment on the NSA leak:
View this recording on the KQED Forum webpage: http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201306110900
Rahul Sagar
Rahul Sagar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics at Princeton University. His primary research interests are the field of political theory and include topics in ancient and modern political theory including executive power, moderation, tyranny, and political realism.
Sagar’s first book, Secrets and Leaks: The Dilemma of State Secrecy, is set to be released in October 2013. Sagar examines the complex relationships among executive power, national security, and secrecy. State secrecy is vital for national security, but it can also be used to conceal wrongdoing. How then can we ensure that this power is used responsibly? Typically, the onus is put on lawmakers and judges, who are expected to oversee the executive. Yet because these actors lack access to the relevant information and the ability to determine the harm likely to be caused by its disclosure, they often defer to the executive’s claims about the need for secrecy. As a result, potential abuses are more often exposed by unauthorized disclosures published in the press.
But should such disclosures, which violate the law, be condoned? Drawing on several cases, Rahul Sagar argues that though whistle-blowing can be morally justified, the fear of retaliation usually prompts officials to act anonymously–that is, to “leak” information. As a result, it becomes difficult for the public to discern when an unauthorized disclosure is intended to further partisan interests. Because such disclosures are the only credible means of checking the executive, Sagar writes, they must be tolerated. However, the public should treat such disclosures skeptically and subject irresponsible journalism to concerted criticism.
Other Publications by Rahul Sagar:
Sagar, Rahul. “Executive Privilege.” Oxford Companion to American Politics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Sagar, Rahul. “State Secrecy.” Oxford Companion to American Politics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Sagar, Rahul. “Is Ideal Theory Practical?” Review of International Studies. 37.4 (2011).
Sagar, Rahul. “Presaging the Moderns?: Demosthenes’ Critique of Popular Government.” Journal of Politics. 71.4 (2009).
Sagar, Rahul. “On Combating the Abuse of State Secrecy.” Journal of Political Philosophy. 15.4 (2007).
Tom Boellstorff, author of Coming of Age in Second Life, discusses virtual worlds and brings to light how indispensably informative they are in teaching us how the physical social world works. Second Life is an online virtual world (launched in June 2003) where users can interact with each other using avatars, which are virtual representations of oneself. Avatars are highly customizable. Anything can be changed – from one’s skin tone or hairstyle down to their eye color or weight. Miniscule details can be altered for the more particular users, allowing one to change even the most personal virtual articles of clothing, such as undergarments.
A screenshot from the official Second Life website. Click the image above to learn more about the Second Life virtual world.
Second Life immerses the user in, quite literally, an entire virtual second life. Parallel to our physical world, this virtual world allows users to hold jobs, create families, own pets, and participate in recreational activities. Relationships are formed, hearts are broken, and soap opera-esque dramas are frequent. Many similar games exist – open “sandbox” environments where the users are free to roam and explore without a set path. What sets Second Life apart from many other kindred virtual worlds is the seemingly endless options.
Users are free to create, direct, and change their destinies as they wish. There is not set goal or endpoint; This world has no set monetary amount to save towards. There’s no plateau of employment or CEO position to covet in hopes of finishing the game. That’s right – there’s no end credits in this game, regardless of what you accomplish. Inhabitants just live life day-to-day, much like we do.
There is an ongoing dispute as to whether or not Second Life actually classifies as a video game or falls under the simulation category. Tom Boellstorff has other concerns. His book is about how these virtual worlds change our perception of the self and how we interact with others in different, yet eerily similar social platforms. To learn more about Second Life and other virtual worlds, watch Marc Strassman’s interview with Tom Boellstorff below:
If the above embedded video does not work or you prefer to watch this interview on YouTube’s website, click this link: http://youtu.be/1XkZMXtDEWM
Coming of Age in Second Life:
An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human Review
“If you thought a virtual world like Second Life was a smorgasbord of experimental gender swaps, nerd types engaging in kinky sex or entrepreneurs cashing in on real world money making possibilities, think again. . . .Could Boellstorff be right that we’re all virtual humans anyway, viewing the world as we do through the prism of culture?”–New Scientist
“Boellstorff applies the methods and theories of his field to a virtual world accessible only through a computer screen….[He] spent two years participating in Second Life and reports back as the trained observer that he is. We read about a fascinating, and to many of us mystifying, world. How do people make actual money in this virtual society? (They do.) How do they make friends with other avatars? The reader unfamiliar with such sites learns a lot–not least, all sorts of cool jargon…Worth the hurdles its scholarly bent imposes.”–Michelle Press, Scientific American
“Boellstorff’s book is full of fascinating vignettes recounting the blossomings of friendships and romances in the virtual world, and musing fruitfully on questions of creative identity and novel problems of etiquette.”–Steven Poole, Guardian
“Where many of his colleagues insist on making a mystery of things that are straightforward (so to neglect mysteries real and pressing), Boellstorff is a likeable, generous, accessible voice. . . . This book, once it gets down to it, does truly offer a detailed and deeply interesting investigation of Second Life.”–Grant McCracken, Times Higher Education
These are the best-selling books for the past week.
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College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be by Andrew Delbanco |
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No Joke: Making Jewish Humor by Ruth R. Wisse |
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Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson |
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The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order by Benn Steil |
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Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today’s Computers by John MacCormick |
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On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt |
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Italo Calvino: Letters, 1941-1985 by Italo Calvino Selected and with an introduction by Michael Wood Translated by Martin McLaughlin |
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Picasso and Truth: From Cubism to Guernica by T.J. Clark |
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Kafka: The Years of Insight by Reiner Stach Translated by Shelley Frisch |
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The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking by Edward B. Burger & Michael Starbird |
False hellebore
False hellebore (Veratrum viride) is a plant that grows in swampy areas often intermixed with skunk cabbage. Although it is a large plant with a long, upright inflorescence of flowers, it can go unnoticed because of the similarity of the leaves in size and color to those of skunk cabbage. Closer examination will show the differences: the leaves of false hellebore are pleated and grow up the stem rather than just from the ground like those of skunk cabbage.
Like some other wetland plants, including skunk cabbage, it has deep, tenacious roots that help hold it in place in the wet, sometimes flooded swamp.
And as with many poisonous plants, false hellebore is also important medicinally. A compound responsible for lowering blood pressure is obtained from its roots.
Plants do not flower until they have reached maturity at about 10 years, and then only erratically. The flowers of false hellebore must be examined closely to be appreciated. They are about 1” across and the same green as the rest of the plant with bright yellow anthers being the most noticeable part. Each tepal has a pair of nectar-producing glands at the base. Ants visit to feed on this sweet resource.
Learn more about false hellebore and other spring wildflowers in Carol Gracie’s book, Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast: A Natural History.
Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle have created the most innovative and complete guide to warblers available in The Warbler Guide. In this video they consider what is most important to notice when you are in the field and how learning distinguishing features of warblers can simplify identification.
Click here to learn more about The Warbler Guide. The book will be available July 2013.
For more tips on how to use The Warbler Guide and how to identify warblers in the field, please see additional videos in this series.
Pterosaurs is meant to provide an interesting read for researchers and diehard enthusiasts, while still being approachable for those who are yet to really acquaint themselves with flying reptiles. If you’re familiar with the Unwin and Wellnhofer books, you know the tone I’ve aimed for. (Those interested in reading a sample of the text will want to download the first chapter from Princeton University Press, and check out an early draft [essentially unchanged in the published text] of Chapter 17.) Pterosaurs is, of course, more up to date than either of these books. Only seven years passing between this book and the last, but the differences are quite pronounced. Despite both Unwin’s and Wellnhofer’s books dating very well, whole groups of pterosaurs have been discovered since their publications (e.g. ‘boreopterids’, chaoyangopterids, wukongopterids, and many more in the case of Wellnhofer’s tome) and ideas of pterosaur lifestyles and habits have changed considerably. It’s of small significance in this field of three modern pterosaur books but, by default, Pterosaurs is the most up to date synthesis on these animals currently available.
Thalassodromeus sethi, a pterosaur with a most unfortunate name, showing a baby Brazilian spinosaur that the food chain works both ways. One of my favourite paintings from Witton (2013). Pterosaurs is meant to combine the best aspects of preceding pterosaur books into one package, putting Unwin’s terrific introduction to the group together with Wellnhofer’s coverage of all pterosaur species and important fossils. This results in nine chapters covering the broad-strokes of pterosaur research: the history of their discovery, evolutionary origins, osteology, soft-tissues, locomotion (flight and terrestrial locomotion are discussed separately), palaeoecology and extinction. The other 16 chapters focus on specific pterosaur groups, each featuring a history of discovery, distribution maps, overviews of anatomy (including soft-tissues, where known) and discussions of palaeoecology. These latter chapters broadly follow the phylogenetic scheme of Lü et al. (2010) but, because that will not please everyone, alternative taxonomic proposals are mentioned and discussed where relevant (though hopefully not at expense of readability!). Attempts to present different sides to contentious issues are continual throughout the book. As readers will discover, there is still a lot to learn about these animals and it would be foolish to present only a single view as ‘right’ when pterosaur science continues to evolve and change. The drive to give everyone fair hearing resulted in a reference list of over 500 works and, hopefully, this will make the book a useful starting point for students new to pterosaurs and wanting to hit the primary literature. (Incidentally, Lü Junchang needs to take a bow as probably the most prolific modern pterosaur worker, his portion of the citation list dwarfing virtually everyone else’s despite only beginning in the mid-nineties. Way to go, JC!)
Read the complete post over at Mark’s blog: http://markwitton-com.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/pterosaurs-natural-history-evolution.html
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Pterosaurs
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You might also enjoy reading Joseph Nye’s thoughts on how external forces can change a presidential style from transformational to transactional or in the reverse.
Some critics complain that US President Barack Obama campaigned on inspirational rhetoric and an ambition to “bend the arc of history,” but then turned out to be a transactional and pragmatic leader once in office. In this respect, however, Obama is hardly unique.
Many leaders change their objectives and style over the course of their careers. One of the great transformational leaders in history, Otto von Bismarck, became largely incremental and status quo-oriented after achieving the unification of Germany under Prussian direction. Likewise, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s foreign-policy objectives and style were modest and incremental in his first presidential term, but became transformational in 1938 when he decided that Adolf Hitler represented an existential threat.
Transactional leadership is more effective in stable and predictable environments, whereas an inspirational style is more likely to appear in periods of rapid and discontinuous social and political change. The transformational objectives and inspirational style of a leader like Mahatma Gandhi in India or Nelson Mandela in South Africa can significantly influence outcomes in fluid political contexts, particularly in developing countries with weakly structured institutional constraints.
By contrast, American foreign-policy formation is highly constrained by institutions like Congress, the courts, and the constitution. Thus, we would expect less opportunity for transformational leadership.
But even the US Constitution is ambiguous about the powers of Congress and the president in foreign policy. At best, it creates what one constitutional expert called “an invitation to struggle.” Moreover, much depends on external conditions. Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Harry Truman developed transformational objectives only in response to external events after they entered office.
Read the complete article at Project Syndicate: http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/contextual-intelligence-and-foreign-policy-leadership-by-joseph-s–nye
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Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era
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These are the best-selling books for the past week.
|
No Joke: Making Jewish Humor by Ruth R. Wisse |
|
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson |
|
The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking by Edward B. Burger & Michael Starbird |
|
The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order by Benn Steil |
|
Picasso and Truth: From Cubism to Guernica by T.J. Clark |
|
On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt |
|
QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter by Richard P. Feynman |
|
Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era by Joseph S. Nye, Jr. |
|
The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors by Richard Crossley, Jerry Liguori & Brian Sullivan |
|
Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History by Thomas Barfield |
![j9967[1]](http://blog.press.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/j99671.gif)
