NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDIES LIBRARY NEW ARRIVALS 1 January 2020 SL.No TITLE ABSTRACT 1 The Idea of the World: A Multi-Disciplinary A rigorous case for the primacy of mind in nature, from philosophy to neuroscience, psychology and physics. The Idea of the World Argument for the Mental Nature of Reality offers a grounded alternative to the frenzy of unrestrained abstractions and unexamined assumptions in philosophy and science today. This book examines what can be learned about the nature of reality based on conceptual parsimony, straightforward logic and empirical evidence from fields as diverse as physics and neuroscience. It compiles an overarching case for idealism - the notion that Author: Bernardo Kastrup reality is essentially mental - from ten original articles the author has previously published in leading academic journals. The case Publisher: Iff Books begins with an exposition of the logical fallacies and internal contradictions of the reigning physicalist ontology and its popular Year: 2019 alternatives, such as bottom-up panpsychism. It then advances a compelling formulation of idealism that elegantly makes sense of - and reconciles - classical and quantum worlds. The main objections to idealism are systematically refuted and empirical evidence is Call Number: 110 reviewed that corroborates the formulation presented here. The book closes with an analysis of the hidden psychological motivations KAS behind mainstream physicalism and the implications of idealism for the way we relate to the world. 17852 Recommended by: Dr Nithin Nagaraj 2 Holy Science : The Biopolitics of Hindu Behind the euphoric narrative of India as an emerging world power lies a fascinating but untold story of an evolving relationship Nationalism between Science and religion. Evoking the rich mythology of coming led worlds, where humans, animals, and gods transform each other and ancient history, Bana Subramanian demonstrates how Hindu nationalism weaves an ideal past into technologies of the present to imagine a future nation that is modern and “Hindu.” as in many parts of the world, India is witnessing a hypernationalism Author: Banu Subramaniam on multiple fronts. Through five illustrative cases involving biological claims, Subramanian explores an emerging nationalism. The Publisher: Orient Blackswan cases are varied, spanning the revival of vaastushastra, the codification of “unnatural” sex in IPC section 377 (which the Indian Year: 2019 Supreme Court recently struck down), the unfolding debates around the veracity of Hanuman and Rama Setu, debates on the geographic origins of Indians through genomic evidence, the revival of traditional systems of Indian medicine through genomic and Call Number: 320.540954 pharmaceuticals, the growth of and subsequent ban on gestational surrogacy, and the rise of old Vedic gestational sciences. Moving SUB beyond a critique of India’s emerging bionationalism, holy Science explores generative possibilities that the rich traditions of South Asian story telling practices offer us. This book will be of interest to scholars of science and Technology studies, history of science, 17853 gender studies, sexuality studies and cultural studies. Recommended by: Prof. Carol Upadhya 3 Why Materialism is Baloney: How True The present framing of the cultural debate in terms of materialism versus religion has allowed materialism to go unchallenged as the Skeptics Know There is No Death and only rationally-viable metaphysics. This book seeks to change this. It uncovers the absurd implications of materialism and then, Fathom Answers to life, the Universe, and uniquely, presents a hard-nosed non-materialist metaphysics substantiated by skepticism, hard empirical evidence, and clear logical argumentation. It lays out a coherent framework upon which one can interpret and make sense of every natural phenomenon and Everything physical law, as well as the modalities of human consciousness, without materialist assumptions. According to this framework, the brain is merely the image of a self-localization process of mind, analogously to how a whirlpool is the image of a self-localization Author: Bernardo Kastrup process of water. The brain doesn't generate mind in the same way that a whirlpool doesn't generate water. It is the brain that is in Publisher: Iff Books mind, not mind in the brain. Physical death is merely a de-clenching of awareness. The book closes with a series of educated Year: 2014 speculations regarding the afterlife, psychic phenomena, and other related subjects. Call Number: 110 KAS 17854 Recommended by: Dr Nithin Nagaraj 4 The State of Renewable Energy in India In the five years since the publication of the first Citizen’s Report on the State of Renewable Energy, the renewable energy sector has 2019 – A Citizen’s Report made tremendous strides in the country. Riding on a favourable policy environment and dipping prices, capacity and generation have grown. But this success has thrown newer challenges. Author: The second Citizen’s Report on the State of Renewable Energy takes a close look at where we stand now, what are the strengths and Publisher: Centre for Science and challenges facing the sector, and whether the sector can overcome these obstacles and emerge as a viable alternative to conventional Environment energy sources. Year: 2019 It offers an analysis which covers the key sub-sectors and the associated infrastructure — solar (large-scale, rooftop and Call Number: 333.7940954 manufacturing), wind, waste to energy, integration and transmission, energy access and distribution companies. And it offers a blueprint which could help the sector reach its 175-gigawatt goal seamlessly. STA 17855 The world stands at the cusp of a momentous shift in the energy sector. For the first time, decarbonised electricity appears feasible in the foreseeable future; it is not an abstract vision. The question that the second Citizen’s Report asks is: Can India grab this Recommended by: Prof. R Srikanth opportunity and chart a brave new world of 100 per cent renewable quickly and efficiently? 5 Super Highway: Sea Power in the 21st In Super Highway, maritime strategist and former Rear Admiral Chris Parry argues that in the second decade of the 21st century, the Century sea is set to reclaim its status as the world’s preeminent strategic medium. Almost everything that travels virtually between continents and states on the Internet moves, in reality, as in previous eras of globalization, across, under or over the sea. Parry makes the case that the next decade will witness a scramble for the sea, involving competition for oceanic resources and the attempted political and Author: Chris Parry economic colonization of large tracts of what have, until now, been considered international waters and shipping routes. Can the UK, Publisher: Elliott & Thompson with its seafaring history, reclaim the waves? With space travel no longer on the agenda, the sea (the physical equivalent of the Year: 2014 world-wide-web) is effectively the world’s final undiscovered frontier and the potential arena for a classic "Great Game" between the major powers and developing states. Call Number: 320.12 PAR 17856 Recommended by: Dr.Prakash Pannerselvam 6 Urban Asias: Essays on Futurity Past and Home to more city dwellers than any other region, and the locus of many of the world’s most populous metropolitan areas, Asia is Present moving to centre stage in popular and academic debates about planetary urban futures. Among diverse urban Asias are landscapes, images, visions and aspirations that conjure new forms of the future. This volume comprises essays examining intersections of the urban and futurity. While attentive to emergent forms of urban Asia, contributors also examine futures past, the afterlives of Author: Tim Bunnell & Daniel P. S. Goh historical projects, and archaeologies of the future. While authoritative forms of future city-making feature in several essays, others Publisher: Jovis focus on everyday engagement with futurity. Many essays provide ethnographic and field-based empirical insights into urban Year: 2018 lifeworlds that are coming into being, while others explore the theoretical and political implications of urban futures from Asia. Call Number: 307.1216095 BUN 17857 Recommended by: Prof. Carol Upadhya With an emphasis on readers and reading, Jonathan Culler considers deconstruction in terms of the questions raised by 7 On Deconstruction: Theory and Criticism psychoanalytic, feminist, and reader-response criticism. On Deconstruction is both an authoritative synthesis of Derrida's thought and after Structuralism, (2nd ed) an analysis of the often-problematic relationship between his philosophical writings and the work of literary critics. Culler's book is an indispensable guide for anyone interested in understanding modern critical thought. This edition marks the Author: Jonathan Culler twenty-fifth anniversary of the first publication of this landmark work and includes a new preface by the author that surveys Publisher: Routledge deconstruction's history since the 1980s and assesses its place within cultural theory today. Year: 2007 Call Number: 801.95 CUL 17858 Recommended by: Miss. Sumithra Sunder 8 The Tata Saga: Timeless Stories From How did Jamsetji Tata win over British resistance to start Tata Steel? India's Largest Business Group How did JRD lose control of Air India? Why did Ratan Tata face opposition to become the chairman of Tata Sons? What happened inside the Taj Hotel on 26/11? Author: The Tata Saga is a collection