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Research in Computational Molecular Biology: 28th Annual International Conference, RECOMB 2024, Cambridge, MA, USA, April 29–May 2, 2024, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #14758)
by Jian MaThis book constitutes the proceedings of the 28th Annual International Conference on Research in Computational Molecular Biology, RECOMB 2024, held in Cambridge, MA, USA, during April 29–May 2, 2024. The 57 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 352 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: theoretical and foundational algorithm contributions and more applied directions that engage with new technologies and intriguing biological questions.
Automotive Human-Machine Interaction (Research on Automotive Intelligent Cockpit)
by Jun Ma Zaiyan GongThis book focuses on the evaluation methodology for automotive human-machine interaction (HMI), which aim to reduce driving distractions, lower operational loads, optimize user experience design, and enhance user value.The book is divided into three parts. The first part, consisting of Chapters 1–3, introduces the evolution of automotive HMI and proposes a three-dimensional orthogonal evaluation system for automotive HMI that is comprehensive, systematic, and quantifiable. This evaluation system incorporates all evaluation items into a spatial matrix consisting of three dimensions: interaction tasks, interaction modalities, and evaluation indexes. The second part provides a comprehensive presentation and in-depth discussion of the evaluation indexes. The three rational evaluation indexes are utility, safety, and efficiency, which can be tested by the real-car driving simulator. The four emotional evaluation indexes are cognition, intelligence, value, and aesthetics. In orderto standardize the latter two subjective indexes, this book summarizes common differences in value between Chinese and European users and organizes typical aesthetic orientations in automotive UI based on art history research. The third part introduces the application of this HMI evaluation system in the automotive R&D process, including how to integrate the evaluation into a real product development process to achieve efficient product iteration.This book is suitable for intelligent cockpit and HMI designers, engineers, and researchers. It is also used as a reference for product managers and students in the field of intelligent connected vehicles.
Engaged Learning and Innovative Teaching in Higher Education: Digital Technology, Professional Competence, and Teaching Pedagogies (Lecture Notes in Educational Technology)
by Will W. K. MaThis book presents research studies investigating innovative curriculum design, effective teaching pedagogies, skilling and assessment of relevant competencies, and innovative and learning-associated technology. The book is categorized into three sections: (I) Innovative and digital learning environments; (II) Assessment and development of future professional competencies; and (III) Innovative curriculum design and teaching pedagogies. It serves as a useful resource for academic instruction in higher education. Employers, administrators, practitioners, postgraduate students, and postsecondary students in general will also find it informative.
Mad Women: The Other Side of Life on Madison Avenue in the '60s and Beyond
by Jane Maas"Breezy and salty." -The New York Times"Hilarious! Honest, intimate, this book tells it as it was." -Mary Wells Lawrence, author of A Big Life (In Advertising) and founding president of Wells Rich Greene "Breezy and engaging [though] ...The chief value of Mad Women is the witness it bears for younger women about the snobbery and sexism their mothers and grandmothers endured as the price of entry into mid-century American professional life." -The Boston Globe"A real-life Peggy Olson, right out of Mad Men." -Shelly Lazarus, Chairman, Ogilvy & MatherWhat was it like to be an advertising woman on Madison Avenue in the 60s and 70s - that Mad Men era of casual sex and professional serfdom? A real-life Peggy Olson reveals it all in this immensely entertaining and bittersweet memoir.Mad Women is a tell-all account of life in the New York advertising world by Jane Maas, a copywriter who succeeded in the primarily male jungle depicted in the hit show Mad Men. Fans of the show are dying to know how accurate it is: was there really that much sex at the office? Were there really three-martini lunches? Were women really second-class citizens? Jane Maas says the answer to all three questions is unequivocally "yes." Her book, based on her own experiences and countless interviews with her peers, gives the full stories, from the junior account man whose wife almost left him when she found the copy of Screw magazine he'd used to find "a date" for a client, to the Ogilvy & Mather's annual Boat Ride, a sex-and-booze filled orgy, from which it was said no virgin ever returned intact. Wickedly funny and full of juicy inside information, Mad Women also tackles some of the tougher issues of the era, such as unequal pay, rampant, jaw-dropping sexism, and the difficult choice many women faced between motherhood and their careers.
A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses Series #1)
by Sarah J. MaasWhen nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin--one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world. <P><P> As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow over the faerie lands is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin--and his world--forever.
Integrated Solutions for Smart and Sustainable Environmental Conservation (Studies in Systems, Decision and Control #527)
by Jamal Mabrouki Mourade AzrourResource depletion and ecological risks are more than ever at the heart of societal and economic debates. In the 1970s, the developed countries saw the Fordist growth regime crumble in parallel with the growing awareness of the ecological issue. Since the first industrial revolutions, technological dynamics have been the cause of many environmental problems, and there is a consensus on the diagnosis. Integrated technologies reduce resource use and/or pollution at source by using cleaner production methods. This generally leads to a reduction in the by-products, energy inputs and resources used by companies to produce goods. Integrated production technologies reduce negative environmental impacts at source by substituting or modifying cleaner technologies. Examples of integrated, or cleaner, production technologies are the recirculation of materials, the use of environmentally friendly materials (such as the substitution of water for organic solvents), etc. However, the implementation of integrated production technologies is often hampered by obstacles related to cost, coordination and skill inertia problems and to the productive organisation of companies. In addition to the high investment costs of new integrated technologies, additional barriers may emerge depending on the nature of the environmental problem and the type of environmental regulation in question.
Technical and Technological Solutions Towards a Sustainable Society and Circular Economy (World Sustainability Series)
by Jamal Mabrouki Azrour MouradeResource depletion and ecological risks are more than ever at the heart of societal and economic debates. In the 1970s, the developed countries saw the Fordist growth regime crumble in parallel with the growing awareness of the ecological issue. Since the first industrial revolutions, technological dynamics have been the cause of many environmental problems, and there is a consensus on the diagnosis. Integrated technologies reduce resource use and/or pollution at source by using cleaner production methods. This generally leads to a reduction in the by-products, energy inputs and resources used by companies to produce goods.Integrated production technologies reduce negative environmental impacts at source by substituting or modifying cleaner technologies. Examples of integrated, or cleaner, production technologies are the recirculation of materials, the use of environmentally friendly materials (such as the substitution of water for organic solvents), etc. However, the implementation of integrated production technologies is often hampered by obstacles related to cost, coordination and skill inertia problems and to the productive organisation of companies. In addition to the high investment costs of new integrated technologies, additional barriers may emerge depending on the nature of the environmental problem and the type of environmental regulation in question.
The Supreme Court
by Ruadhán Mac Cormaic'A wonderful book ... a superb book and it's not just for people interested in law; it tells you a lot about Ireland' Vincent Browne, TV3The judges, the decisions, the rifts and the rivalries - the gripping inside story of the institution that has shaped Ireland.'Combines painstaking research with acute analysis and intelligence' Colm Tóibín, Irish Times' Books of the Year'[Mac Cormaic] has done something unprecedented and done it with a striking maturity, balance and adroitness. He creates the intimacy necessary but never loses sight of the wider contexts; this is not just a book about legal history; it is also about social, political and cultural history ... [the Supreme Court] has found a brilliant chronicler in Ruadhan Mac Cormaic' Diarmaid Ferriter, Professor of Modern Irish History, UCD'Mac Cormaic quite brilliantly tells the story ... balanced, perceptive and fair ... a major contribution to public understanding' Donncha O'Connell, Professor of Law, NUIG, Dublin Review of Books'Compelling ... a remarkable story, told with great style' Irish Times'Authoritative, well-written and highly entertaining' Sunday TimesThe work of the Supreme Court is at the heart of the private and public life of the nation. Whether it's a father trying to overturn his child's adoption, a woman asserting her right to control her fertility, republicans fighting extradition, political activists demanding an equal hearing in the media, women looking to serve on juries, the state attempting to prevent a teenager ending her pregnancy, a couple challenging the tax laws, a gay man fighting his criminalization simply for being gay, a disabled young man and his mother seeking to vindicate his right to an education, the court's decisions can change lives.Now, having had unprecedented access to a vast number of sources, and conducted hundreds of interviews, including with key insiders, award-winning Irish Times journalist Ruadhan Mac Cormaic lifts the veil on the court's hidden world.The Supreme Court reveals new and surprising information about well-known cases. It exposes the sometimes fractious relationship between the court and the government. But above all it tells a story about people - those who brought the cases, those who argued in court, those who dealt with the fallout and, above all, those who took the decisions. Judges' backgrounds and relationships, their politics and temperaments, as well as the internal tensions between them, are vital to understanding how the court works and are explored here in fascinating detail.The Supreme Court is both a riveting read and an important and revealing account of one of the most powerful institutions of our state.Ruadhan Mac Cormaic is the former Legal Affairs Correspondent and Paris Correspondent of the Irish Times. He is now the paper's Foreign Affairs Correspondent.
Cultures of Work, the Neoliberal Environment and Music in Higher Education (Palgrave Critical University Studies)
by Sally Macarthur Julja Szuster Paul WattThis edited book considers the impact of neoliberalism on music teaching, research and scholarship in a higher education context. As a subject that bears little resemblance to other university practical disciplines, and fares poorly in a model driven by economics, the book considers whether musicology is a ‘public good’ or a threatened species. It contemplates what musicology can usefully contribute to a paradigm driven by economics, and questions whether it is ever possible to recover an ideal civil subject in neoliberal music academia. Contributions investigate what it means to build music research capacity in innovative ways, such as forging cross-cultural relationships, subverting conventional notions of quality and value, replacing them with knowledges and values that guide Indigenous intellectual traditions, and whether interventions into the legacy of colonialism are truly ever possible in neoliberal higher education institutions that celebrate difference and diversitywhile reinforcing social inequities. The book also explores the relationships between gender and music, music research training and scholarship, and whether the interdisciplinarity championed by the university is ever workable. Finally, it undertakes a cross-disciplinary, new materialist reading of a canonical musical work, offering a radically new perspective. The book will appeal to students and scholars of music education, musicology, higher education studies and the creative arts more broadly.
Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at Seventy
by Colin MacCabeAn intimate portrait of the turmoil that spawned the New Wave in French Cinema, and the story of its greatest director, Jean-Luc Godard. Godard's early films revolutionized the language of cinema. Hugely prolific in his first decade--Breathless, Contempt, Pierrot le Fou, Alphaville, and Made in USA are just a handful of the seminal works he directed--Godard introduced filmgoers to the generation of stars associated with the trumpeted sexuality of postwar movies and culture: Brigitte Bardot, Jean Seberg, Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Anna Karina. As the sixties wore on, however, Godard's life was transformed. The Hollywood he had idolized began to disgust him, and in the midst of the socialist ferment in France his second wife introduced him to the activist student left. From 1968 to 1972, Europe's greatest director worked in the service of Maoist politics, and continued thereafter to experiment on the far peripheries of the medium he had transformed. His extraordinary later works are little seen or appreciated, yet he remains one of Europe's most influential artists.Drawing on his own working experience with Godard and his coterie, Colin MacCabe, in this first biography of the director, has written a thrilling account of the French cinema's transformation in the hands of Truffaut, Rohmer, Rivette, and Chabrol--critics who toppled the old aesthetics by becoming, legendarily, directors themselves--and Godard's determination to make cinema the greatest of the arts.
How Does Germline Regenerate? (Convening Science: Discovery at the Marine Biological Laboratory)
by Kate MacCordA concise primer that complicates a convenient truth in biology—the divide between germ and somatic cells—with far-reaching ethical and public policy ramifications. Scientists have long held that we have two kinds of cells—germ and soma. Make a change to germ cells—say using genome editing—and that change will appear in the cells of future generations. Somatic cells are “safe” after such tampering; modify your skin cells, and your future children’s skin cells will never know. And, while germ cells can give rise to new generations (including all of the somatic cells in a body), somatic cells can never become germ cells. How did scientists discover this relationship and distinction between somatic and germ cells—the so-called Weismann Barrier—and does it actually exist? Can somatic cells become germ cells in the way germ cells become somatic cells? That is, can germ cells regenerate from somatic cells even though conventional wisdom denies this possibility? Covering research from the late nineteenth century to the 2020s, historian and philosopher of science Kate MacCord explores how scientists came to understand and accept the dubious concept of the Weismann Barrier and what profound implications this convenient assumption has for research and policy, from genome editing to stem cell research, and much more.
Intentional Moves: How Skillful Team Leaders Impact Learning
by Elisa B. MacDonaldFor maximum impact, let intention drive your actions. Leading a team means more than running meetings. It’s leading collaborative learning for continuous improvement. Like effective teachers in the classroom, skillful team leaders decide what they are aiming to achieve and make small, intentional moves to produce powerful learning outcomes for teachers and students. In this long-awaited follow-up to her best-selling book, The Skillful Team Leader, acclaimed educator Elisa MacDonald presents nearly 150 effective moves, organized by intention, for any educator who leads a team. In this book, you′ll find strategies to lead with purpose and direction, including how to: foster an inclusive environment and strengthen team trust interrupt bias and cultivate diverse perspectives navigate resistance and manage conflict facilitate data analysis lead peer observation assess your team’s collaboration and so much more! Written in a practitioner-friendly format with a light tone and relatable stories, this is a must-have book for all team leaders and those who support them in your school.
Intentional Moves: How Skillful Team Leaders Impact Learning
by Elisa B. MacDonaldFor maximum impact, let intention drive your actions. Leading a team means more than running meetings. It’s leading collaborative learning for continuous improvement. Like effective teachers in the classroom, skillful team leaders decide what they are aiming to achieve and make small, intentional moves to produce powerful learning outcomes for teachers and students. In this long-awaited follow-up to her best-selling book, The Skillful Team Leader, acclaimed educator Elisa MacDonald presents nearly 150 effective moves, organized by intention, for any educator who leads a team. In this book, you′ll find strategies to lead with purpose and direction, including how to: foster an inclusive environment and strengthen team trust interrupt bias and cultivate diverse perspectives navigate resistance and manage conflict facilitate data analysis lead peer observation assess your team’s collaboration and so much more! Written in a practitioner-friendly format with a light tone and relatable stories, this is a must-have book for all team leaders and those who support them in your school.
The Governess Club: Louisa (The Governess Club #4)
by Ellie MacdonaldFor fans of Christina Dodd and Elizabeth Boyle.Louisa Brockhurst is on the run—from her friends, from her family, even from her dream of independence through the Governess Club. But sometimes it's easier for her to hide from those she loves in order to escape the secrets of her past.Handsome but menacing John Taylor is a prizefighter-turned-innkeeper who is trying to make his way in society. When Louisa shows up at his doorstep, he's quick to accept her offer to help—at a price. He knows that she's hiding something, and he can't help his protective instincts toward the beautiful woman.Their attraction grows, but will headstrong, fiery Louisa ever trust the surprisingly kind John enough to tell him the dangerous secrets from her past that keep her running? Or will the power of her feelings scare her into running yet again?
The Governess Club: Bonnie (The Governess Club #2)
by Ellie MacdonaldMiss Bonnie Hodges, governess to the Darrow family, is desperately trying to hold it together. Tragedy has struck, and she is the sole person left to be strong for the two little boys in her care. When the new guardian arrives, she hopes that things will get better. She wasn't expecting her new employer to be the most frustrating, overbearing, and ... handsome man she's ever seen.Sir Stephen Montgomery is utterly distracted. He should be trying to figure out how his two best friends were killed in a suspicious accident and why the new young viscount seems destined to be the next victim. But he can't concentrate on anything but his growing infatuation with the beautiful, mysterious, and utterly captivating governess.Together they're doing their best to save the two boys, but will Stephen's feelings for Bonnie get in the way of their search for a killer?
The Governess Club: Claire (The Governess Club #1)
by Ellie MacdonaldFor fans of Christina Dodd and Elizabeth Boyle.Claire Bannister just wants to be a good teacher so that she and the other ladies of the Governess Club can make enough money to leave their jobs and start their own school in the country. But when the new sinfully handsome and utterly distracting tutor arrives, Claire finds herself caught up in a whirlwind romance that could change the course of her future. Jacob Knightly has a secret. He is actually the notorious Earl of Rimmel. He's just posing as a tutor to escape his reputation in the city. He never expected to fall in love with the kind and beautiful governess. She is the first person to love him for himself and not his title.But when Jacob's true identity is revealed, Claire realizes she has risked her reputation and her heart on a man she doesn't truly know. Will Jacob be able to convince her that the Wild Earl has been tamed and that she is the true countess of his heart?
The Governess Club: Sara (The Governess Club #3)
by Ellie MacdonaldFor fans of Christina Dodd and Elizabeth Boyle.Sweet Sara Collins is one of the founding members of the Governess Club. But she has a secret: She doesn't love teaching. She'd much prefer to be a vicar's wife and help the local community. But this quiet mouse doesn't want to upset her friends, and she resolves to help in whatever ways she can.Nathan Grant is the embodiment of everything that frightens Sara. Which is why she can't understand why the handsome but reclusive and gruff man is so fascinating to her. When Sara decides it's time to take a chance and experience all that life has to offer, Nathan is the first person she thinks of.Will Sara's walk on the wild side ruin her chances at a simple, happy life? Or has she just opened the door to a once-in-a-lifetime chance at passion?
The Princess and the Goblin (Puffin Classics)
by George MacDonaldThe enchanting story of The Princess and the Goblin, brilliantly introduced by Ursula Le Guin, author of the Earthsea quartet. Princess Irene lives in a castle in a wild and lonely mountainous region. One day she discovers a steep and winding stairway leading to a bewildering labyrinth of unused passages with closed doors - and a further stairway. What lies at the top? Can the ring the princess is given protect her against the lurking menace of the boglins from under the mountain?
Scottish Football Quotations
by Kenny MacdonaldIn this, the follow-up to the critically acclaimed first volume of quotations about our national sport, Kenny MacDonald delves once more into Scotland's sweaty, smelly football dressing-rooms and emerges with a batch of statements which are profond, amusing, acerbic and sometimes plain bizarre.
London's Number One Dog-Walking Agency: A Memoir
by Kate Macdougall“ Sparkles with humor, joy and wit. London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency bounds along with the energy of a rambunctious pup and exudes the wisdom of a beloved canine with an old soul (you know the type)." — BookPageThe irresistibly charming memoir of a young woman who started her own business as a dog walker for London’s busy, well-heeled dog lovers. A true love letter to London, dogs, and growing up. Aside from the odd biter or growler, the occasional bolter and the one dog who didn’t want to walk, the canines were the easy part. They were a muddy, messy joy in all shapes, sizes and breeds, from greedy Labradors to pampered pugs and everything in between. It was the owners who were the real challenge, a giddy mix of the over-protective, the clueless, the eccentrics and the perfectionists. There is no rule book on how to navigate the obsessions of the London dog owner. A degree in human psychology would have been far preferable to any sort of animal qualification. Not that I had either…In 2006, Kate MacDougall was working a safe but dull job at the venerable auction house Sotheby’s in London. After a clumsy accident nearly destroyed a precious piece of art, she quit Sotheby’s and set up her own dog-walking company. Kate knew little about dogs and nothing about business, and no one thought being a professional dog walker was a good use of her university degree. Nevertheless, Kate embarked upon an entirely new and very much improvised career walking some of the city’s many pampered pooches, branding her company “London's Number One Dog Walking Agency.” With sharp wit, delightful observations, and plenty of canine affection, Kate reveals her unique and unconventional coming-of-age story, as told through the dogs, and the London homes and neighborhoods they inhabit. One walk at a time, she journeys from a haphazard twentysomething to a happily—and surprisingly—settled adult, with love, relationships, drama, and home ownership along the way. But, as Kate says, “It’s all down to the dogs” and what they taught her about London—and life.
The Family Home: A chilling and addictive psychological thriller
by Lorraine MaceIS BLOOD ALWAYS THICKER THAN WATER?Sally has lived in fear of her husband long enough. But after twenty years of suffering, she has been left with nothing of her own and no one to turn to - except her estranged sister, Alison.When Alison agrees to help Sally escape, she knows she must return to the one place she was told never to show her face again - the family home - and confront her father once more.But soon, Sally begins to suspect that all is not as it seems, and as she is forced to face the ghosts of the past, she discovers there may be secrets hidden in her own memory that are best left buried . . .A twisting and compulsive page-turner, with a shocking twist. If you love Keri Beevis, L H Stacey and K. L. Slater, you'll love The Family Home.---READERS ARE HOOKED ON LORRAINE MACE'S THRILLERS:'⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Menacing and twisty''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Dark, disturbing and claustrophobic''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ [A] suspense-packed story full of tension . . . I did not see that twist coming at the end!''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ A real unputdownable page-turner which had me totally gripped''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ I didn't see that coming! What a great roller-coaster ride of a thriller'
The Family Home: A chilling and addictive psychological thriller
by Lorraine MaceIS BLOOD ALWAYS THICKER THAN WATER?Sally has lived in fear of her husband long enough. But after twenty years of suffering, she has been left with nothing of her own and no one to turn to - except her estranged sister, Alison.When Alison agrees to help Sally escape, she knows she must return to the one place she was told never to show her face again - the family home - and confront her father once more.But soon, Sally begins to suspect that all is not as it seems, and as she is forced to face the ghosts of the past, she discovers there may be secrets hidden in her own memory that are best left buried . . .A twisting and compulsive page-turner, with a shocking twist. If you love Keri Beevis, L H Stacey and K. L. Slater, you'll love The Family Home.---READERS ARE HOOKED ON LORRAINE MACE'S THRILLERS:'⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Menacing and twisty''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Dark, disturbing and claustrophobic''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ [A] suspense-packed story full of tension . . . I did not see that twist coming at the end!''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ A real unputdownable page-turner which had me totally gripped''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ I didn't see that coming! What a great roller-coaster ride of a thriller'
Introduction to Data Science in Biostatistics: Using R, the Tidyverse Ecosystem, and APIs
by Thomas W. MacFarlandIntroduction to Data Science in Biostatistics: Using R, the Tidyverse Ecosystem, and APIs defines and explores the term "data science" and discusses the many professional skills and competencies affiliated with the industry. With data science being a leading indicator of interest in STEM fields, the text also investigates this ongoing growth of demand in these spaces, with the goal of providing readers who are entering the professional world with foundational knowledge of required skills, job trends, and salary expectations. The text provides a historical overview of computing and the field's progression to R as it exists today, including the multitude of packages and functions associated with both Base R and the tidyverse ecosystem. Readers will learn how to use R to work with real data, as well as how to communicate results to external stakeholders. A distinguishing feature of this text is its emphasis on the emerging use of APIs to obtain data.
No Mean Glasgow: Revelations of a Gorbals Guy
by Colin MacFarlaneIn his last book, The Real Gorbals Story, Colin MacFarlane detailed how he witnessed a once great area, home to wonderful characters and grand old buildings, disappear before his eyes. By the time MacFarlane's tenement was knocked down in the early 1970s, he had left school and been rehoused in another part of the city. In an attempt to extricate himself from his Gorbals gang days, he took a job as an apprentice chef at one of Glasgow's top restaurants, where he soon discovered that his colleagues were just as insane as those he had mixed with on the city streets. Meanwhile, MacFarlane struggled to integrate into the more affluent area that his family had been moved to and soon found himself returning to his old haunts and back in trouble again.In No Mean Glasgow, MacFarlane charts his eventful, fun-packed passage from Gorbals street boy to grown man on the brink of a new beginning. He describes his adventures with a mixture of humour, sadness and delight. It is a book for those people living all over the world who remember the old Glasgow - a city teeming with warmth, passion, patter and characters who could brighten up even the darkest of days.
The Real Gorbals Story: True Tales from Glasgow's Meanest Streets
by Colin MacFarlaneColin MacFarlane was born in the Gorbals in the 1950s, 20 years after the publication of No Mean City, the classic novel about pre-war life in what was once Glasgow's most deprived district. He lived in the same street as its fictional 'razor king', Johnnie Stark, and subsequently realised that a lot of the old characters represented in the book were still around as late as the 1960s. Men still wore bunnets and played pitch and toss; women still treated the steamie as their social club. The razor gangs were running amok once again, and filth, violence, crime, rats, poverty and drunkenness abounded, just like they did in No Mean City.MacFarlane witnessed the last days of the old Gorbals as a major regeneration programme, begun in 1961, was implemented, and, as a street boy, he had a unique insight into a once great community in rapid decline. In this engrossing book, MacFarlane reveals what it was really like to live in the old Gorbals.