SOCIOLOGY · HISTORY
Keith Tester
Michael Keith (born 1955) is an American mathematician, software engineer, and author of works of constrained writing. Keith was employed at Sarnoff Corporation from 1980 until 1990 and Intel Corporation from 1990 to 1998, both tenures involving work in multimedia software. He was part of the original team at Sarnoff that developed Digital Video Interactive, the first PC digital video system, and at Intel he was a member of the group that developed Indeo, another video compression standard. As a result of this work Keith is credited as inventor or co-inventor on 60 US patents. As of 2014 he works as a software designer, developer, and tester.
Are you the one then?"
— from The inhuman condition, 1995
Most acclaimed
Panic
Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do. Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought. Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for. For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.
Media, culture, and morality
1994
"Major and terrible events are happening in the world. They are daily reported in the media and yet most people seem to remain unmoved and uncaring. Are the media themselves responsible for this lack of care? Meanwhile, thanks to the emergence and popularity of cultural studies, the media are being studied as never before. But why is that study so often trivial and lacking in moral seriousness? Is the discipline of cultural studies part of the problem rather than, as it would have us believe, the answer? This book poses these questions and encourages reflection on why, for example, advertisements for coffee inspire more discussion than do famines. The book takes aim at the empty heart of cultural studies and argues that the study of the media can only be culturally valuable and morally worthwhile if it remembers the lessons taught by sociology. This is an accessible and controversial book which is bound to inspire debate amongst students and commentators on the media."--Jacket.
Utopia
First published in 1516, Thomas More's Utopia is one of the most important works of European humanism. Through the voice of the mysterious traveler Raphael Hythloday, More describes a pagan, communist city-state governed by reason. Addressing such issues as religious pluralism, women's rights, state-sponsored education, colonialism, and justified warfare, Utopia seems remarkably contemporary nearly five centuries after it was written, and it remains a foundational text in philosophy and political theory.