This stunning catalog to an important exhibition presents the work of some of the most acclaimed contemporary African artists, examining their relationship with various aspects of the African environment. The definition of a new African artist is as broad and diverse as the continent itself; and the stories these artists tell are at once uplifting and devastating, as are their nations' histories. This book focuses on the impact of the environment on contemporary African life and the use of found objects and appropriated materials in current African art. Artists from the oil-rich Niger Delta create images of the region's ecological destruction, impoverishment, and despair. Works from the Congo and South Africa depict abandoned mines and convict labour. Also included are El Anatsui's constructs made from bottle caps and wire and Romuald Hazoumé's clever masks, pieced together from discarded cans and obsolete telephone parts. Together these artists have created a multidimensional portrait of a continent with rich cultures, multiple challenges, and a creative and resourceful population of inspiring artists. AUTHOR Lisa Aronson is Associate Professor in the Department of Art History at Skidmore College. John S. Weber is Dayton Director of the Tang Museum and Professor of Liberal Studies at Skidmore College. ILLUSTRATIONS: 85 colour

An Essential Reference for Intermediate and Advanced R Programmers Advanced R presents useful tools and techniques for attacking many types of R programming problems, helping you avoid mistakes and dead ends. With more than ten years of experience programming in R, the author illustrates the elegance, beauty, and flexibility at the heart of R. The book develops the necessary skills to produce quality code that can be used in a variety of circumstances. You will learn: The fundamentals of R, including standard data types and functions Functional programming as a useful framework for solving wide classes of problems The positives and negatives of metaprogramming How to write fast, memory-efficient code This book not only helps current R users become R programmers but also shows existing programmers what’s special about R. Intermediate R programmers can dive deeper into R and learn new strategies for solving diverse problems while programmers from other languages can learn the details of R and understand why R works the way it does.

Written for the professional statistician or graduate statistics student, the primary objective of this book is to describe a system, based on the LISP language, for statistical computing and dynamic graphics to show how it can be used as an effective platform for a wide range of statistical computing tasks ranging from basic calculations to customizing dynamic graphs. In addition, it introduces object-oriented programming and graphics programming in a statistical context. The discussion of these ideas is based on the Lisp-Stat system; readers with access to such a system can reproduce the examples presented and use them as a basis for further experimentation and study.

'an unpreachy guide [...] free of jargon and full of often surprising information.' The Times Change starts at home. In the office. Change starts with you. Your family. Your friends. Change starts with everyday things. One object at a time. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming thinking about all that needs to be done to save our planet. This book is the antidote to that feeling. Easy to read and easy to do – here’s all the information and inspiration you need to make a difference, simply by making smart choices about everyday objects, tasks and habits. Environmental scientist Dr Tara Shine guides you from room to room and occasion to occasion with environmentally friendly solutions, backed by science. From swapping bottled soap to bars, to replacing cling film with a simple plate, you will reduce your environmental footprint in an instant, while saving money. This book busts persistent myths and will once and for all show that living sustainably can be both fun and convenient. Besides, it will not only have a positive impact on the environment, but your wellbeing too! 'Dr. Tara Shine is an enlightened big-picture thinker, and with this book she shows that she is equally and delightfully adept at bringing details into focus. This book is all about realising the power you have as an individual by informing yourself, asking questions and making smart choices. By getting becoming active and joining the conversation, you become empowered and you do something about the problem we face rather than feeling powerless in its presence.' Christiana Figueres, Former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

From the former director of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, a timely and passionate case for the role of the well-designed object in the digital age. Curator and scholar Glenn Adamson opens Fewer, Better Things by contrasting his beloved childhood teddy bear to the smartphones and digital tablets children have today. He laments that many children and adults are losing touch with the material objects that have nurtured human development for thousands of years. The objects are still here, but we seem to care less and know less about them. In his presentations to groups, he often asks an audience member what he or she knows about the chair the person is sitting in. Few people know much more than whether it's made of wood, plastic, or metal. If we know little about how things are made, it's hard to remain connected to the world around us. Fewer, Better Things explores the history of craft in its many forms, explaining how raw materials, tools, design, and technique come together to produce beauty and utility in handmade or manufactured items. Whether describing the implements used in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, the use of woodworking tools, or the use of new fabrication technologies, Adamson writes expertly and lovingly about the aesthetics of objects, and the care and attention that goes into producing them. Reading this wise and elegant book is a truly transformative experience.

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. What is the environment, this elusive object that impacts us so profoundly--our odds to be born; the way we look, feel, and function; and how long and comfortable we may live? The environment is not only everything we see around us but also, at a lesser scale, a hailstorm of molecules large and small that constantly penetrates our bodies, simultaneously nourishing and threatening our health. The concept of oneness with our surroundings urges a reckoning of what we are doing to 'the environment,' and consequently, what we are doing to ourselves. By taking us through this journey of questioning, Rolf Halden's Environment empowers readers with new knowledge and a heightened appreciation of how our daily lifestyle decisions are impacting the places we occupy, our health, and humanity's prospect of survival. With illustrations by Griffin Finke. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

Imaginative design will be a crucial factor in enacting sustainability in people's daily lives. Yet current design practice is trapped in consumerist cycles of innovation and production, making it difficult to imagine how we might develop a more meaningful and sustainable rendition of material culture. Through fundamental design research, The Spirit of Design challenges a host of common assumptions about sustainability, progress, growth and globalization. Walker's practice-based explorations of localisation, human meaning and functional objects demonstrate the imaginative potential of research-through-design and yield a compelling, constructive and essentially hopeful direction for the future - one that radically re-imagines our material culture by meshing mass-production with individuality, products with place, and utilitarian benefit with environmental responsibility. In so doing, the author explores: - How understandings of human meaning affect design and how design can better incorporate issues of personal meaning - How mass production needs to become integrated with localised production and service provision - How short-lived electronic goods can be brought into a more sustainable design paradigm - The changing role of the designer in a post-consumerist world Taking a design-centred approach - a combination of creative, propositional design practice, reasoned argument and theoretical discussion - the book will impel readers to investigate the nature of contemporary material culture and its relationship to both the natural environment and to deeper notions of human meaning.