Tom Oliver

"A pathbreaking synthesis" Gus Speth "Rigorous and compelling" Michael Foley Why our current fixes for the environmental crisis are making things worse, and what we need to do about it. Does the future of humankind lie in colonising a new planet, or uploading our minds to a digital metaverse? Listening to certain billionaires and technophiles, you might think these are our best bets for escaping the increasingly hostile world we’ve made for ourselves. The Nature Delusion dismantles these ideas. It shows why technological and economic ‘fixes’ alone cannot solve the existential threat of climate change, and why they remain out of reach for most people. Instead, this book uncovers the root causes of our environmental crisis – from our disconnection from nature to our focus on short-term, self-centred priorities – and offers a hopeful vision for the future. As the environmental crisis deepens, it’s easy to feel powerless or overwhelmed. The Nature Delusion invites you to see humanity’s place in the world in a radically new way and demonstrates how transforming our mindset can create a healthier, more resilient world.

Improve your game's code with design patterns to make it more readable, reusable, modular, and optimized, guided by an Unreal Authorized Instructor to enhance your overall use of C++ with Unreal Engine Key Features Explore programming patterns, structures, and principles and their applications in Unreal Engine 5 game development Translate code from Blueprint to C++ to implement performant solutions in game development Build a decoupled communications hierarchy and become a better game developer Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook Book DescriptionDesign patterns serve as a toolkit of techniques and practices that enable you to write code that’s not only faster, but also more manageable. With this book, you’ll explore a range of design patterns and learn how to apply them to projects developed in Unreal Engine 5. You’ll begin by delving into the foundational principles of coding and develop a solid understanding of the concepts, challenges, and benefits of using patterns in your code. As you progress, you’ll identify patterns that are woven into the core of Unreal Engine 5 such as Double Buffer, Flyweight, and Spatial Partitioning, followed by some of the existing tool sets that embody patterns in their design and usage including Component, Behavior Tree, and Update. In the next section of the book, you’ll start developing a series of gameplay use cases in C++ to implement a variety of design patterns such as Interface and Event-based Observers to build a decoupled communications hierarchy. You’ll also work with Singleton, Command, and State, along with Behavioral Patterns, Template, Subclass Sandbox, and Type Object. The final section focuses on using design patterns for optimization, covering Dirty Flag, Data Locality, and Object Pooling. By the end, you’ll be proficient in designing systems with the perfect C++/Blueprint blend for maintainable and scalable systems. What you will learn Grasp the essence of design patterns and their inherent utility Understand the layers within UE 5 and how they work together Identify the relationship between C++ code and Blueprint in Unreal Engine 5 Recognize the design patterns found within existing Unreal Engine 5 functions Explore design patterns to understand their purpose and application within Unreal Engine 5 Creatively apply design patterns to existing code to overcome common challenges Who this book is forIf you are a beginner or intermediate game developer working with Unreal Engine and looking to improve your C++ coding practices, this book is tailor-made to help you produce clean, reusable code through the application of design patterns. While this book will cover introductory tasks to show the fundamentals of Unreal Engine 5, its primary purpose is not to teach Unreal Engine from scratch. Prior experience with Unreal Engine will be beneficial, but don’t fret if your knowledge isn’t in-depth; the book will introduce tools and features as needed.

'A thought-provoking and worthwhile read' THE TIMES'A timely, challenging book' GUARDIAN'[A] rich, intriguing book' NATUREWE ARE MUCH MORE CONNECTED TO NATURE AND EACH OTHER THAN WE REALISE . . . - Most of our 37 trillion cells have such a short lifespan that we are essentially made anew every few weeks- The molecules forming our bodies have been component parts of countless other organisms, from ancient plants to dinosaurs- The bacteria, fungi and viruses that make up our bodies influence our moods and even manipulate our behaviour- Every word and every touch we receive from other people transforms the neural networks in our brain and changes our sense of self THE SELF DELUSION is an explosive, powerful and inspiring book that brings together overwhelming evidence against the illusion we have of ourselves as independent beings - and explains how understanding our many connections may be the key to a better future.