Sex (Illustrated)

by Patrick Geddes

Overview

To many otherwise sensible people, even the word " sex " is abhorrent, still more a book about sex. They will not, therefore, be reading this volume, but their objections may be considered, (a) In some cases the repugnance expresses an organic lack of sympathy with the aim of science, for many estimable people have no use for scientific analysis. They are lacking in the curious spirit, and are not worried by obscurities. They are not interested in any theory of the internal tides that sway them. To those who are built on those lines, there is no more to be said. One feels, however, that while ignorance may be bliss when everything is plain sailing, some accurate knowledge is likely to be useful when the bark of life gets near the rocks in stormy weather. Science is for the control of life, as well as for its enlightenment.

This book contains information about sex, and more sex: THE STUDY OF SEX, THE EVOLUTION OF SEX, SEX-CHARACTERS ILLUSTRATED, THEORY OF SEX DIMORPHISM, WHAT DETERMINES SEX?, THE CYCLE OF SEX, CORRUPTIO OPTIMI PESSIMA, PROS AND CONS OF SEX EDUCATION, THE ETHICS OF SEX, and SEX AND SOCIETY.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940015598681
Publisher:	Balefire Publishing
Publication date:	10/12/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	260
File size:	14 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Sir Patrick Geddes (2 October 1854 – 17 April 1932) was a Scottish biologist, sociologist, geographer, philanthropist and pioneering town planner. He is known for his innovative thinking in the fields of urban planning and sociology.

He was responsible for introducing the concept of "region" to architecture and planning and is also known to have coined the term "conurbation".

An energetic Francophile, Geddes was the founder of the Collège des Écossais (Scots College) an international teaching establishment in Montpellier, France.

Geddes championed a mode of planning that sought to consider "primary human needs" in every intervention, engaging in "constructive and conservative surgery" rather than the "heroic, all of a piece schemes" popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was to continue to use and advocate for this approach throughout his career.

Very early on in his career Geddes was to demonstrate the practicality of his ideas and approach. In 1886 Geddes and his newly married wife purchased a row of slum tenements in James Court, Edinburgh making it into a single dwelling. In and around this area Geddes commenced upon a project of "conservative surgery": "weeding out the worst of the houses that surrounded them…widening the narrow closes into courtyards" and thus improving sunlight and airflow. The best of the houses were kept and restored. Geddes believed that this approach was both more economical and more humane.

In this way Geddes consciously worked against the tradition of the "gridiron plan", resurgent in colonial town design in the 19th century: “The heritage of the gridiron plans goes back at least to the Roman camps. The basis for the grid as an enduring and appealing urban form rests on five main characteristics: order and regulatory, orientation in space and to elements, simplicity and ease of navigation, speed of layout, and adaptability to circumstance.”

However, he wished this policy of "sweeping clearances" to be recognized for what he believed it was: "one of the most disastrous and pernicious blunders in the chequered history of sanitation."