San Antonio College Library

Visionary game designer Jane McGonigal shows how we can harness the power of computer games to solve real-world problems and boost global happiness, since her research suggests that gamers are expert problem solvers and collaborators because they regularly cooperate with other players to overcome daunting virtual challenges. Visionary game designer Jane McGonigal reveals how we can harness the power of games to solve real-world problems and boost...

A blend of travelogue, pop culture analysis, and memoir, former Dungeons and Dragons addict Ethan Gilsdorf tells of the quest that began in his geeky teenage past and ends in the online gaming future.

Theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss explains the groundbreaking new scientific advances presenting the most recent evidence for how our universe evolved--and the implications for how it's going to end.

A landmark film in early sound production this is a left-wing satirical comedy about two ex-convicts, one of whom works his way up from salesman to factory owner. He oversees a highly mechanised operation where the workers are reduced to mere automatons. Blackmailed over his past, he joins up with his old cellmate, and the pair take to the road as tramps. Frequently acknowledged as the inspiration for Chaplin's "Modern times."

A Cultural History of Gardens presents an authoritative survey from ancient times to the present. This set of six volumes covers over 2500 years of gardens as physical, social and artistic spaces. This structure means readers can either have a broad overview of a period by reading a volume or follow a theme through history by reading the relevant chapter in each volume. Superbly illustrated, the full six volume set combines to present the most authoritative...

"This volume shows how nanotechnology takes on a wide range of socio-historically specific meanings in the context of globalization, across multiple localities, institutions and collaborations, through diverse industries, research labs, and government agencies and in a variety of discussions within the public sphere itself. It explores the early origins of nanotechnologies; the social, economic, and political organization of the field; and the cultural...

The documentary explores the history of the Barbie doll, through older and contemporary clips. Includes interviews with Barbie fans, foes, and fetishists ; these are people of all ages and sexes who either covet or revile Barbie. Visits conventions and auctions, where early dolls and memorabilia are bought and sold. Also tells the story of Barbie's creator and Mattel co-founder: Ruth Handler, whose commentary runs throughout the film. Handler adapted...

"Tells the unlikely story of Ramzi Hussein Aburedwan, a boy from a Palestinian refugee camp in Ramallah who confronts the occupying army, gets an education, masters an instrument, dreams of something much bigger than himself, and then inspires scores of others to work with him to make that dream a reality. That dream is of a music school in the midst of a refugee camp in Ramallah, a school that will transform the lives of thousands of children through...

In the thirty-five years since China instituted its One-Child Policy, 120,000 children -- mostly girls -- have left China through international adoption, including 85,000 to the United States. It is generally assumed that this diaspora is the result of China's approach to population control, but there is also the underlying belief that the majority of adoptees are daughters because the One-Child Policy often collides with the traditional preference...

This book explores the steady decline in the status of the individual in recent years and addresses common misunderstandings about the concept of individuality. Drawing from psychology, neuroscience, technology, economics, philosophy, politics, and law, White explains how and why the individual has been devalued in the eyes of scholars, government leaders, and the public. He notes that developments in science have led to doubts about our cognitive...