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books tagged “culture”
books tagged “culture”
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1984by George Orwell, Mike DeanISBN 0582777313 (0-582-77731-3)
Softcover, Addison-Wesley Longman Ltd
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› Find signed collectible books: '1984'Book summary:Orwell's classic novel tells the story of a world where thoughts and actions are controlled by the all-seeing Big Brother. When Winston Smith rebels and searches for the truth he learns a painful lesson about his world and the people in it. Also a powerful film directed by Michael Radford. [via]
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Acts of Meaningby Jerome BrunerISBN 0674003616 (0-674-00361-6)
Softcover, Harvard Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Acts of Meaning'Book summary:Jerome Bruner argues that the cognitive revolution, with its current fixation on mind as "information processor; " has led psychology away from the deeper objective of understanding mind as a creator of meanings. Only by breaking out of the limitations imposed by a computational model of mind can we grasp the special interaction through which mind both constitutes and is constituted by culture. [via]
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Always Coming Homeby Ursula K. Le Guin, Margaret Chodos-Irvine, Todd Barton, George HershISBN 0520227352 (0-520-22735-2)
Softcover, Univ of California Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Always Coming Home'Book summary:Ursula Le Guin's Always Coming Home is a major work of the imagination from one of America's most respected writers of science fiction. More than five years in the making, it is a novel unlike any other. A rich and complex interweaving of story and fable, poem, artwork, and music, it totally immerses the reader in the culture of the Kesh, a peaceful people of the far future who inhabit a place called the Valley on the Northern Pacific Coast.[via] 
The American Way of Deathby Jessica MitfordISBN 0671244159 (0-671-24415-9)
Softcover, Simon and Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The American Way of Death'Book summary:Before the turn of the century, the American funeral was simple "to the point of starkness," says Jessica Mitford, the acclaimed muckraking journalist who published this investigation of the country's funeral business in 1963. That the country went on to develop a tendency for gross overspending on funerals Mitford puts down to the greed and ingenuity of undertakers, whom she regards as salesmen guilty of pressuring families into agreeing to their excessive standards for burial. Mitford, who died recently, delivers facts and criticism in a forthright and humorous manner. She would certainly appreciate that her assessment of the American way of death endures after her own passing. [via]
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The Arcades Projectby Walter Benjamin, Kevin McLaughlin, Howard EilandISBN 0674008022 (0-674-00802-2)
Softcover, Harvard Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Arcades Project'Book summary:You could spend years trying to read Walter Benjamin's The Arcades Project--after all, he spent much of the last 13 years of his life doing the research. When he committed suicide in 1940, he destroyed his copy of the manuscript, and so for decades the work was believed lost. But another copy turned up, and Howard Eiland and Kevin McLaughlin have translated it into English. It is a complex, fragmentary work--more a series of notes for a book than a book itself--which probes the culture of the Paris arcades (a cross between covered streets and shopping malls) of the mid-19th century and the flaneur ("the man who walks long and aimlessly through the streets" in an "anamnestic intoxication [that] ... feeds on the sensory data taking shape before his eyes but often possesses itself of abstract knowledge--indeed, of dead facts--as something experienced and lived through"). The Arcades Project is, frankly, so dense a work that one hardly has enough time to glimpse fleetingly at its sections--over 100 pages of notes on Baudelaire alone!--before mentioning it to you, though one certainly looks forward to the opportunity to peruse it at leisure. [via]
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The Art of Warby John Minford, SunziISBN 0670031569 (0-670-03156-9)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Art of War'Book summary:For more than two thousand years, The Art of War has stood as a cornerstone of Chinese culture-a lucid epigrammatic text that reveals as much about human psychology, politics, and economics as it does about battlefield strategy. The influence of Sun-tzu's text has grown tremendously in the West in recent years, with military leaders, politicians, and corporate executives alike finding valuable insight in these ancient words. In his crisp, accessible new translation, scholar John Minford brings this seminal work to life for modern readers.
Minford opens with a lively, learned introduction in which he explores the life and times of Sun-tzu, looks at The Art of War in the context of the turbulent Warring States period, and discusses how best to read and understand the work today. There follows Minford's translation of the core text itself in two different formats-first, the unadorned thirteen chapters of the original work and then the same text reprinted with extensive running commentary by classical Chinese scholars as well as Minford himself. The result is an opportunity for Western readers to experience Sun-tzu's work in all its intensity as it applies to many aspects of our lives. [via]More editions of The Art of War:
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The Art Of Warby Sun Tzu, Lionel GilesISBN 0486425576 (0-486-42557-6)
Softcover, Dover Pubns
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Art Of War'Book summary:Widely regarded as "The Oldest Military Treatise in the World," this landmark work covers principles of strategy, tactics, maneuvering, communication, and supplies; the use of terrain, fire, and the seasons of the year; the classification and utilization of spies; the treatment of soldiers, including captives, all have a modern ring to them.[via]More editions of The Art Of War:
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The Battle for Christmasby Stephen NissenbaumISBN 0679740384 (0-679-74038-4)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Battle for Christmas'Book summary:This scholarly analysis of our modern celebration of Christmas pulls together a thoroughly convincing case for the widely accepted notion that it is a 19th-century creation, indeed a deliberate reformation and taming of a holiday with wilder pagan origins. Christmas was set at December 25 in the fourth century, not for any biblical link with Christ's birth, but because the church hoped to annex and Christianize the existing midwinter pagan feast. This latter was based on the seasonal agricultural plenty, with the year's food supply newly in store, and nothing to do in the fields. It was a time of drinking and debauchery from the Roman Saturnalia to the English Mummers. The Victorians hijacked the holiday, and Victorian writers helped turn it into a feast of safe domesticity and a cacophonous chime of retail cash registers. [via]
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Beyond Civilization: Humanity's Next Great Adventureby Daniel QuinnISBN 0609805363 (0-609-80536-3)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Beyond Civilization: Humanity's Next Great Adventure'Book summary:Futurist Daniel Quinn (Ishmael) dares to imagine a new approach to saving the world that involves deconstructing civilization. Quinn asks the radical yet fundamental questions about humanity such as, Why does civilization grow food, lock it up, and then make people earn money to buy it back? Why not progress "beyond civilization" and abandon the hierarchical lifestyles that cause many of our social problems? He challenges the "old mind" thinking that believes problems should be fixed with social programs. "Old minds think: How do we stop these bad things from happening?" Quinn writes. "New minds think: How do we make things the way we want them to be?"
Whether he is discussing Amish farming, homelessness, "tribal business," or holy work, Quinn's manifesto is highly digestible. Instead of writing dense, weighty chapters filled with self-important prose, he's assembled a series of brief one-page essays. His language is down to earth, his metaphors easy to grasp. As a result, readers can read about and ponder Beyond Civilization at a blissfully civilized pace. --Gail Hudson [via]
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Black Like Meby John Howard GriffinISBN 060600405X (0-606-00405-X)
Hardcover, Southgate Publishers
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The Book of the Courtierby Castiglione, Baldassare, Conte, Leonard Eckstein OpdyckeISBN 0486427021 (0-486-42702-1)
Softcover, Dover Pubns
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Book of the Courtier'Book summary:An insider's view of court life and culture during the Renaissance, here is the handiwork of a 16th-century diplomat who was called upon to resolve the differences in a war of etiquette among the Italian nobility. The ultimate resource on aristocratic manners, it remains the most definitive account of life among the Renaissance nobility.[via]More editions of The Book of the Courtier:
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Brave New Worldby Aldous HuxleyISBN 0582530334 (0-582-53033-4)
Softcover, Longman Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Brave New World'Book summary:"Community, Identity, Stability" is the motto of Aldous Huxley's utopian World State. Here everyone consumes daily grams of soma, to fight depression, babies are born in laboratories, and the most popular form of entertainment is a "Feelie," a movie that stimulates the senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Though there is no violence and everyone is provided for, Bernard Marx feels something is missing and senses his relationship with a young women has the potential to be much more than the confines of their existence allow. Huxley foreshadowed many of the practices and gadgets we take for granted today--let's hope the sterility and absence of individuality he predicted aren't yet to come. [via]
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Brick Laneby Monica AliISBN 0743243307 (0-7432-4330-7)
Hardcover, Scribner
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Brick Lane'Book summary:With its gritty Tower Hamlets setting, this sharply observed contemporary novel about the life of an Asian immigrant girl deals cogently with issues of love, cultural difference and the human spirit. The pre-publicity hype about Brick Lane was precisely the kind to set alarm bells ringing (we've heard it so often before), but, for once, the excitement is fully justified: Monica Ali's debut novel demonstrates that there is a new voice in modern fiction to be reckoned with.
Nazneen is a teenager forced into an arranged marriage with a man considerably older than her--a man whose expectations of life are so low that misery seems to stretch ahead for her. Fearfully leaving the sultry oppression of her Bangladeshi village, Nazneen finds herself cloistered in a small flat in a high-rise block in the East End of London. Because she speaks no English, she is obliged to depend totally on her husband. But it becomes apparent that, of the two, she is the real survivor: more able to deal with the ways of the world, and a better judge of the vagaries of human behaviour. She makes friends with another Asian girl, Razia, who is the conduit to her understanding of the unsettling ways of her new homeland.
This is a novel of genuine insight, with the kind of characterisation that reminds the reader at every turn just what the novel form is capable of. Every character (Nazneen, her disappointed husband and her resourceful friend Razia) is drawn with the complexity that can really only be found in the novel these days. In some ways, the reader is given the same all-encompassing experience as in a Dickens novel: humour and tragedy rub shoulders in a narrative that inexorably grips the reader. Whether or not Monica Ali can follow up this achievement is a question for the future; it's enough to say right now that Brick Lane is an essential read for anyone interested in current British fiction. --Barry Forshaw [via]
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The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionaryby Eric S. RaymondISBN 0596001088 (0-596-00108-8)
Softcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary'Book summary:It may be foolish to consider Eric Raymond's recent collection of essays, The Cathedral and the Bazaar, the most important computer programming thinking to follow the Internet revolution. But it would be more unfortunate to overlook the implications and long-term benefits of his fastidious description of open-source software development considering the growing dependence businesses and economies have on emerging computer technologies.
The Cathedral and the Bazaar takes its title from an essay Raymond read at the 1997 Linux Kongress. The essay documents Raymond's acquisition, re-creation, and numerous revisions of an e-mail utility known as fetchmail. Raymond engagingly narrates the fetchmail development process while elaborating on the ongoing bazaar development method he uses with the help of volunteer programmers. The essay smartly spares the reader from the technical morass that could easily detract from the text's goal of demonstrating the efficacy of the open-source, or bazaar, method in creating robust, usable software.
Once Raymond has established the components and players necessary for an optimally running open-source model, he sets out to counter the conventional wisdom of private, closed-source software development. Like superbly written code, the author's arguments systematically anticipate their rebuttals. For programmers who "worry that the transition to open source will abolish or devalue their jobs," Raymond adeptly and factually counters that "most developer's salaries don't depend on software sale value." Raymond's uncanny ability to convince is as unrestrained as his capacity for extrapolating upon the promise of open-source development.
In addition to outlining the open-source methodology and its benefits, Raymond also sets out to salvage the hacker moniker from the nefarious connotations typically associated with it in his essay, "A Brief History of Hackerdom" (not surprisingly, he is also the compiler of The New Hacker's Dictionary). Recasting hackerdom in a more positive light may be a heroic undertaking in itself, but considering the Herculean efforts and perfectionist motivations of Raymond and his fellow open-source developers, that light will shine brightly. --Ryan Kuykendall [via]
More editions of The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary:
- The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary: ISBN 0596001312 (0-596-00131-2)
Hardcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc - The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary: ISBN 0596001088 (0-596-00108-8)
Softcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc
- The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary: ISBN 0596001312 (0-596-00131-2)
The Chinese Have a Word for It: The Complete Guide to Chinese Thought and Cultureby Boye Lafayette De MenteISBN 0658010786 (0-658-01078-6)
Softcover, Passport Books
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The Claims of Culture: Equality and Diversity in the Global Eraby Seyla BenhabibISBN 0691048630 (0-691-04863-0)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Claims of Culture: Equality and Diversity in the Global Era'Book summary:How can liberal democracy best be realized in a world fraught with conflicting new forms of identity politics and intensifying conflicts over culture? This book brings unparalleled clarity to the contemporary debate over this question. Maintaining that cultures are themselves torn by conflicts about their own boundaries, Seyla Benhabib challenges the assumption shared by many theorists and activists that cultures are clearly defined wholes. She argues that much debate--including that of "strong" multiculturalism, which sees cultures as distinct pieces of a mosaic--is dominated by this faulty belief, one with grave consequences for how we think injustices among groups should be redressed and human diversity achieved. Benhabib masterfully presents an alternative approach, developing an understanding of cultures as continually creating, re-creating, and renegotiating the imagined boundaries between "us" and "them."
Drawing on contemporary cultural politics from Western Europe, Canada, and the United States, Benhabib develops a double-track model of deliberative democracy that permits maximum cultural contestation within the official public sphere as well as in and through social movements and the institutions of civil society. Agreeing with political liberals that constitutional and legal universalism should be preserved at the level of polity, she nonetheless contends that such a model is necessary to resolve multicultural conflicts.
Analyzing in detail the transformation of citizenship practices in European Union countries, Benhabib concludes that flexible citizenship, certain kinds of legal pluralism and models of institutional powersharing are quite compatible with deliberative democracy, as long as they are in accord with egalitarian reciprocity, voluntary self-ascription, and freedom of exit and association. The Claims of Culture offers invaluable insight to all those, whether students or scholars, lawyers or policymakers, who strive to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of cultural politics in the twenty-first century.
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Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil Warby Tony HorwitzISBN 067975833X (0-679-75833-X)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War'Book summary:Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tony Horwitz returned from years of traipsing through war zones as a foreign correspondent only to find that his childhood obsession with the Civil War had caught up with him. Near his house in Virginia, he happened to encounter people who reenact the Civil War--men who dress up in period costumes and live as Johnny Rebs and Billy Yanks. Intrigued, he wound up having some odd adventures with the "hardcores," the fellows who try to immerse themselves in the war, hoping to get what they lovingly term a "period rush." Horwitz spent two years reporting on why Americans are still so obsessed with the war, and the ways in which it resonates today. In the course of his work, he made a sobering side trip to cover a murder that was provoked by the display of the Confederate flag, and he spoke to a number of people seeking to honor their ancestors who fought for the Confederacy. Horwitz has a flair for odd details that spark insights, and Confederates in the Attic is a thoughtful and entertaining book that does much to explain America's continuing obsession with the Civil War. [via]
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The Cube And the Cathedral: Europe, America, And Politics Without Godby George WeigelISBN 0465092683 (0-465-09268-3)
Softcover, Perseus Books Group
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The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the Worldby Paul H. Ray, Sherry Ruth AndersonISBN 0609808451 (0-609-80845-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World'Book summary:Do you "give a lot of importance to helping other people and bringing out their unique gifts?" Do you "dislike all the emphasis in modern culture on success and 'making it,' on getting and spending, on wealth and luxury goods?" Do you "want to be involved in creating a new and better way of life for our country?" If you answered yes to all three of these questions--and at least seven more of the remaining 15 in Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson's questionnaire--then you are probably a Cultural Creative.
Cultural Creative is a term coined by Ray and Anderson to describe people whose values embrace a curiosity and concern for the world, its ecosystem, and its peoples; an awareness of and activism for peace and social justice; and an openness to self-actualization through spirituality, psychotherapy, and holistic practices. Cultural Creatives do not just take the money and run; they don't want to defund the National Endowment for the Arts; and they do want women to get a fairer shake--not only in the United States, but around the globe.
On the basis of Ray and Anderson's research, about 50 million Americans are Cultural Creatives, a group that includes people of all races, ages, and classes. This subculture could have enormous social and political clout, the authors argue, if only it had any consciousness of itself as a cohesive unit, a society of fellow travelers. The husband and wife team wrote the book "to hold up a mirror" to the members of this vast but diffuse group, to show them they are not alone and that they can reshape society to make it more authentic, compassionate, and engaged. It is an idealistic call for a new agenda for a new millennium. --I. Crane [via]
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Culture and Anarchyby Matthew ArnoldISBN 0521091039 (0-521-09103-9)
Softcover, Cambridge Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Culture and Anarchy'Book summary:Manifesting the special intelligence of a literary critic of original gifts, Culture and Anarchy is still a living classic. It is addressed to the flexible and the disinterested, to those who are not committed to the findings of their particular discipline, and it assumes in its reader a critical intelligence that will begin its work with the reader himself. Arnold employs a delicate and stringent irony in an examination of the society of his time: a rapidly expanding industrial society, just beginning to accustom itself to the changes in its institutions that the pace of its own development called for. Coming virtually at the end of the decade (1868) and immediately prior to W. E. Forster's Education Act, Culture and Anarchy phrases with a particular cogency the problems that find their centre in the questions: what kind of life do we think individuals in mass societies should be assisted to lead? How may we best ensure that the quality of their living is not impoverished? Arnold applies himself to the detail of his time: to the case of Mr Smith 'who feared he would come to poverty and be eternally lost', to the Reform agitation, to the commercial values that working people were encouraged to respect, and to the limitations of even the best Rationalist intelligence. The degree of local reference is therefore high, but John Dover Wilson's introduction and notes to this edition supply valuable assistance to a reader fresh to the period. [via]
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Culture and Anarchy and Other Writingsby Matthew Arnold, Stefan ColliniISBN 052137796X (0-521-37796-X)
Softcover, Cambridge Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Culture and Anarchy and Other Writings'Book summary:Matthew Arnold's Culture and Anarchy (1869), is one of the most celebrated works of social criticism ever written. It has become a reference point for all subsequent discussion of the relations between politics and culture. This edition establishes the authoritative text of this much-revised work, and places it alongside Arnold's three most important essays on political subjects. The introduction sets these works in the context of nineteenth-century intellectual and political history. This edition also contains a chronology of Arnold's life, a bibliographical guide and full notes on the names and historical events mentioned in the texts. [via]
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Culture and Society: Contemporary Debatesby Jeffrey C. Alexander, Steven SeidmanISBN 0521359392 (0-521-35939-2)
Softcover, Cambridge Univ Pr
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The Dark Heart Of Italyby Tobias JonesISBN 0571205828 (0-571-20582-8)
Hardcover, Faber and Faber
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Democracy in Americaby Daniel J. Boorstin, Phillips Bradley, Henry Reeve, Francis Bowen, Alexis De TocquevilleISBN 0679728252 (0-679-72825-2)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Democracy in America'Book summary:Democracy in America is the classic analysis of America's unique political character, quoted heavily by politicians and perennially popping up on history professors' reading lists. The book's enduring appeal lies in the eloquent, prophetic voice of Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), a French aristocrat who visited the United States in 1831. A thoughtful young man in a still-young country, he succeeded in penning this penetrating study of America's people, culture, history, geography, politics, legal system, and economy. Tocqueville asserts, "I confess that in America I saw more than America; I sought the image of democracy itself, with its inclinations, its character, its prejudices, and its passions, in order to learn what we have to fear or hope from its progress."
In addition to a brilliant, perceptive outline of "the philosophical method of the Americans," Volume II of Democracy in America includes the oddly modern-sounding "Why the Americans Are So Restless in the Midst of Their Prosperity," the surprising and provocative "How Americans Understand the Equality of the Sexes," and the more archaic "The Study of Greek and Latin is Peculiarly Useful in Democratic Communities." This edition--which many consider the best--contains the Henry Reeve text, revised by Francis Bowen, and further edited with introduction, editorial notes, and bibliographies by Phillips Bradley. [via]
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Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prisonby Michel Foucault, Alan SheridanISBN 0679752552 (0-679-75255-2)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison'Book summary:Discipline and Punish lays out Foucault's thoughts on how the elite in society dominate and control the rest of society. Foucault believed no societal advancements have occurred since the Renaissance, only technology has grown, further enslaving the human spirit. [via]
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Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Tasteby Pierre Bourdieu, Richard NiceISBN 0674212770 (0-674-21277-0)
Softcover, Harvard Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste'Book summary:No judgement of taste is innocent. In a word, we are all snobs. Pierre Bourdieu brilliantly illuminates this situation of the middle class in the modern world. France's leading sociologist focusses here on the French bourgeoisie, its tastes and preferences. Distinction is at once a vast ethnography of contemporary France and a dissection of the bourgeois mind.
In the course of everyday life people constantly choose between what they find aesthetically pleasing and what they consider tacky, merely trendy, or ugly. Bourdieu bases his study on surveys that took into account the multitude of social factors that play a part in a Frenchperson's choice of clothing, furniture, leisure activities, dinner menus for guests, and many other matters of taste. What emerges from his analysis is that social snobbery is everywhere in the bourgeois world. The different aesthetic choices people make are all distinctions-that is, choices made in opposition to those made by other classes. Taste is not pure. Bourdieu finds a world of social meaning in the decision to order bouillabaisse, in our contemporary cult of thinness, in the "California sports" such as jogging and cross-country skiing. The social world, he argues, functions simultaneously as a system of power relations and as a symbolic system in which minute distinctions of taste become the basis for social judgement.
The topic of Bourdieu's book is a fascinating one: the strategies of social pretension are always curiously engaging. But the book is more than fascinating. It is a major contribution to current debates on the theory of culture and a challenge to the major theoretical schools in contemporary sociology.
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Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Todayby Margot AdlerISBN 0670283428 (0-670-28342-8)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Softwareby Steven JohnsonISBN 0684868768 (0-684-86876-8)
Softcover, Scribner
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software'Book summary:An individual ant, like an individual neuron, is just about as dumb as can be. Connect enough of them together properly, though, and you get spontaneous intelligence. Web pundit Steven Johnson explains what we know about this phenomenon with a rare lucidity in Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software. Starting with the weird behavior of the semi-colonial organisms we call slime molds, Johnson details the development of increasingly complex and familiar behavior among simple components: cells, insects, and software developers all find their place in greater schemes.
Most game players, alas, live on something close to day-trader time, at least when they're in the middle of a game--thinking more about their next move than their next meal, and usually blissfully oblivious to the ten- or twenty-year trajectory of software development. No one wants to play with a toy that's going to be fun after a few decades of tinkering--the toys have to be engaging now, or kids will find other toys.
Johnson has a knack for explaining complicated and counterintuitive ideas cleverly without stealing the scene. Though we're far from fully understanding how complex behavior manifests from simple units and rules, our awareness that such emergence is possible is guiding research across disciplines. Readers unfamiliar with the sciences of complexity will find Emergence an excellent starting point, while those who were chaotic before it was cool will appreciate its updates and wider scope. --Rob Lightner [via]
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English Society in the Eighteenth Centuryby Roy PorterISBN 0713914173 (0-7139-1417-3)
Hardcover, Allen Lane
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The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict over Creativity, Enterprise and Progressby Virginia PostrelISBN 0684862697 (0-684-86269-7)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict over Creativity, Enterprise and Progress'Book summary:Virginia Postrel smashes conventional political boundaries in this libertarian manifesto. World-views should be defined not by how they view the present, she says, but the future. Do they aim to control it, as many conservative reactionaries and liberal planners want to do? Or do they embrace it, even though they can't know what lies ahead? Postrel (editor of Reason magazine) firmly places herself in this latter category--the dynamists, she calls her happy tribe--and urges the rest of us to sign up. The future of economic prosperity, technological progress, and cultural innovation depends upon embracing principles of choice and competition. The downside of this philosophy, Postrel readily notes, is that it doesn't allow us to manage tomorrow by acting today. And that's exactly the point: we shouldn't want to. A future constructed by an infinite number of individual decisions, made privately, is one she believes we should encourage. The Future and Its Enemies is at once intellectually sweeping and reader-friendly; it has the potential to join a pantheon of books about freedom that includes works by Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman. --John J. Miller [via]
More editions of The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict over Creativity, Enterprise and Progress:
- The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict over Creativity, Enterprise and Progress: ISBN 0684827603 (0-684-82760-3)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster - The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict over Creativity, Enterprise and Progress: ISBN 0684862697 (0-684-86269-7)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
- The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict over Creativity, Enterprise and Progress: ISBN 0684827603 (0-684-82760-3)
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Future Shockby Alvin TofflerISBN 0553144316 (0-553-14431-6)
Softcover, Bantam Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Future Shock'Book summary:Paperback. [via]
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Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069by William Strauss, Neil HoweISBN 0688119123 (0-688-11912-3)
Softcover, William Morrow & Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069'Book summary:Hailed by national leaders as politically diverse as former Vice President Al Gore and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Generations has been heralded by reviewers as a brilliant, if somewhat unsettling, reassessment of where America is heading.
William Strauss and Neil Howe posit the history of America as a succession of generational biographies, beginning in 1584 and encompassing every-one through the children of today. Their bold theory is that each generation belongs to one of four types, and that these types repeat sequentially in a fixed pattern. The vision of Generations allows us to plot a recurring cycle in American history -- a cycle of spiritual awakenings and secular crises -- from the founding colonists through the present day and well into this millenium.
Generations is at once a refreshing historical narrative and a thrilling intuitive leap that reorders not only our history books but also our expectations for the twenty-first century. [via]
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George Orwell's 1984by Ralph A. RanaldISBN 067100719X (0-671-00719-X)
Hardcover, Pearson Education, Limited
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The Hagakure: Yamamoto Tsunetomoby D. E. TarverISBN 0595253628 (0-595-25362-8)
Softcover, Iuniverse Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Hagakure: Yamamoto Tsunetomo'Book summary:Warrior ethics have been studied in famous books and popular movies such as Shogun and The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise. The Hagakure was originally written in the early 1700s over a seven year period. Dictated by Yamamoto Tsunetomo to an assistant, the book was never meant to be published, but after Tsunetomo's death the assistant published it to honor his master. Inside this ancient text are all the deep and mysterious ways of the Samurai. Page after page of topics unfold, ranging from the best way to face death to not looking foolish in a rainstorm. The Hagakure is chock full of Zen-like wisdom and maxims, and presents a revealing look at history's greatest warrior society, Japan in the age of the Samurai. Many use The Hagakure today as a guidebook on ethics, while others are awestruck by this glimpse at the Samurai's way of thinking. [via]
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Hell's Angelsby Hunter S. ThompsonISBN 067960331X (0-679-60331-X)
Hardcover, Modern Library
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Hell's Angels'Book summary:"California, Labor Day weekend . . . early, with ocean fog still in the streets, outlaw motorcyclists wearing chains, shades and greasy Levis roll out from damp garages, all-night diners and cast-off one-night pads in Frisco, Hollywood, Berdoo and East Oakland, heading for the Monterey peninsula, north of Big Sur. . . The Menace is loose again." Thus begins Hunter S. Thompson's vivid account of his experiences with California's most no-torious motorcycle gang, the Hell's Angels. In the mid-1960s, Thompson spent almost two years living with the controversial An-gels, cycling up and down the coast, reveling in the anarchic spirit of their clan, and, as befits their name, raising hell. His book successfully captures a singular moment in American history, when the biker lifestyle was first defined, and when such countercultural movements were electrifying and horrifying America. Thompson, the creator of Gonzo journalism, writes with his usual bravado, energy, and brutal honesty, and with a nuanced and incisive eye; as The New Yorker pointed out, "For all its uninhibited and sardonic humor, Thompson's book is a thoughtful piece of work." As illuminating now as when originally published in 1967, Hell's Angels is a gripping portrait, and the best account we have of the truth behind an American legend.
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A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islamby Karen ArmstrongISBN 0517223120 (0-517-22312-0)
Hardcover, Gramercy Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam'Book summary:Armstrong, a British journalist and former nun, guides us along one of the most elusive and fascinating quests of all time--the search for God. Like all beloved historians, Armstrong entertains us with deft storytelling, astounding research, and makes us feel a greater appreciation for the present because we better understand our past. Be warned: A History of God is not a tidy linear history. Rather, we learn that the definition of God is constantly being repeated, altered, discarded, and resurrected through the ages, responding to its followers' practical concerns rather than to mystical mandates. Armstrong also shows us how Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have overlapped and influenced one another, gently challenging the secularist history of each of these religions. --Gail Hudson [via]
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A History of Readingby Alberto ManguelISBN 0670843024 (0-670-84302-4)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A History of Reading'Book summary:A history of reading presents tales of book thieves, book burners, censors, anarchists, women of eleventh century Japan who had to invent their own reading material, and African-American slaves who were forbidden to read under penalty of death. 20,000 first printing. $20,000 ad/promo. [via]
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How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accentsby Julia AlvarezISBN 061303211X (0-613-03211-X)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents'Book summary:FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Eagerly embracing their new American culture in Miami, the four Garcia women iron their hair, smoke cigarettes, date American men, forget their Spanish, and lose their accents, all in their journey toward adulthood. [via]
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In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequencesby Truman CapoteISBN 0679745580 (0-679-74558-0)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences'Book summary:"Until one morning in mid-November of 1959, few Americans--in fact, few Kansans--had ever heard of Holcomb. Like the waters of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the yellow trains streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama, in the shape of exceptional happenings, had never stopped there." If all Truman Capote did was invent a new genre--journalism written with the language and structure of literature--this "nonfiction novel" about the brutal slaying of the Clutter family by two would-be robbers would be remembered as a trail-blazing experiment that has influenced countless writers. But Capote achieved more than that. He wrote a true masterpiece of creative nonfiction. The images of this tale continue to resonate in our minds: 16-year-old Nancy Clutter teaching a friend how to bake a cherry pie, Dick Hickock's black '49 Chevrolet sedan, Perry Smith's Gibson guitar and his dreams of gold in a tropical paradise--the blood on the walls and the final "thud-snap" of the rope-broken necks. [via]
More editions of In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences:
- In Cold Blood : A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences: ISBN 067960023X (0-679-60023-X)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group - In Cold Blood: ISBN 0606207201 (0-606-20720-1)
Hardcover, Demco Media - In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences: ISBN 0679602593 (0-679-60259-3)
Hardcover, Random House Inc - In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences: ISBN 0679745580 (0-679-74558-0)
Softcover, Random House Inc
- In Cold Blood : A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences: ISBN 067960023X (0-679-60023-X)
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Invention of Traditionby Eric Hobsbawn, Terence O. RangerISBN 0521437733 (0-521-43773-3)
Softcover, Cambridge Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Invention of Tradition'Book summary:Many of the traditions which we think of as very ancient in their origins were not in fact sanctioned by long usage over the centuries, but were invented comparative recently. This book explores examples of this process of invention - the creation of Welsh Scottish 'national culture'; the elaboration of British royal rituals in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the origins of imperial ritual in British India and Africa; and the attempts by radical movements to develop counter-traditions of their own. This book addresses the complex interaction of past and present, bringing together historicans and anthropologists in a fascinating study of ritual and symbolism which possess new questions for the understanding of our history. [via]
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Life in a Medieval Castleby Frances Gies, Joseph GiesISBN 069000561X (0-690-00561-X)
Hardcover, Crowell
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Life in a Medieval Castle'Book summary:"The authors allow medieval man and woman to speak for themselves through selections from past journals, songs, even account books."--Time [via]
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Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Centuryby Greil MarcusISBN 0674535812 (0-674-53581-2)
Softcover, Harvard Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century'Book summary:Greil Marcus, author of Mystery Train, widely acclaimed as the best book ever written about America as seen through its music, began work on this new book out of a fascination with the Sex Pistols: that scandalous antimusical group, invented in London in 1975 and dead within two years, which sparked the emergence of the culture called punk. "I am an antichrist!" shouted singer Johnny Rotten--where in the world of pop music did that come from? Looking for an answer, with a high sense of the drama of the journey, Marcus takes us down the dark paths of counterhistory, a route of blasphemy, adventure, and surprise.
This is no mere search for cultural antecedents. Instead, what Marcus so brilliantly shows is that various kinds of angry, absolute demands--demands on society, art, and all the governing structures of everyday life--seem to be coded in phrases, images, and actions passed on invisibly, but inevitably, by people quite unaware of each other. Marcus lets us hear strange yet familiar voices: of such heretics as the Brethren of the Free Spirit in medieval Europe and the Ranters in seventeenth-century England; the dadaists in Zurich in 1916 and Berlin in 1918, wearing death masks, chanting glossolalia; one Michel Mourre, who in 1950 took over Easter Mass at Notre-Dame to proclaim the death of God; the Lettrist International and the Situationist International, small groups of Paris--based artists and writers surrounding Guy Debord, who produced blank-screen films, prophetic graffiti, and perhaps the most provocative social criticism of the 1950s and '60s; the rioting students and workers of May '68, scrawling cryptic slogans on city walls and bringing France to a halt; the Sex Pistols in London, recording the savage "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save the Queen."
Although the Sex Pistols shape the beginning and the end of the story, Lipstick Traces is not a book about music; it is about a common voice, discovered and transmitted in many forms. Working from scores of previously unexamined and untranslated essays, manifestos, and filmscripts, from old photographs, dada sound poetry, punk songs, collages, and classic texts from Marx to Henri Lefebvre, Marcus takes us deep behind the acknowledged events of our era, into a hidden tradition of moments that would seem imaginary except for the fact that they are real: a tradition of shared utopias, solitary refusals, impossible demands, and unexplained disappearances. Written with grace and force, humor and an insistent sense of tragedy and danger, Lipstick Traces tells a story as disruptive and compelling as the century itself.
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Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Centuryby Greil MarcusISBN 0674535804 (0-674-53580-4)
Hardcover, Harvard Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century'Book summary:Greil Marcus, author of Mystery Train, widely acclaimed as the best book ever written about America as seen through its music, began work on this new book out of a fascination with the Sex Pistols: that scandalous antimusical group, invented in London in 1975 and dead within two years, which sparked the emergence of the culture called punk. "I am an antichrist!" shouted singer Johnny Rotten-where in the world of pop music did that come from? Looking for an answer, with a high sense of the drama of the journey, Marcus takes us down the dark paths of counterhistory, a route of blasphemy, adventure, and surprise.
This is no mere search for cultural antecedents. Instead, what Marcus so brilliantly shows is that various kinds of angry, absolute demands--demands on society, art, and all the governing structures of everyday life--seem to be coded in phrases, images, and actions passed on invisibly, but inevitably, by people quite unaware of each other. Marcus lets us hear strange yet familiar voices: of such heretics as the Brethren of the Free Spirit in medieval Europe and the Ranters in seventeenth-century England; the dadaists in Zurich in 1916 and Berlin in 1918, wearing death masks, chanting glossolalia; one Michel Mourre, who in 1950 took over Easter Mass at Notre-Dame to proclaim the death of God; the Lettrist International and the Situationist International, small groups of Paris--based artists and writers surrounding Guy Debord, who produced blank-screen films, prophetic graffiti, and perhaps the most provocative social criticism of the 1950s and '60s; the rioting students and workers of May '68, scrawling cryptic slogans on city walls and bringing France to a halt; the Sex Pistols in London, recording the savage "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save the Queen."
Although the Sex Pistols shape the beginning and the end of the story, Lipstick Traces is not a book about music; it is about a common voice, discovered and transmitted in many forms. Working from scores of previously unexamined and untranslated essays, manifestos, and filmscripts, from old photographs, dada sound poetry, punk songs, collages, and classic texts from Marx to Henri Lefebvre, Marcus takes us deep behind the acknowledged events of our era, into a hidden tradition of moments that would seem imaginary except for the fact that they are real: a tradition of shared utopias, solitary refusals, impossible demands, and unexplained disappearances. Written with grace and force, humor and an insistent sense of tragedy and danger, Lipstick Traces tells a story as disruptive and compelling as the century itself.
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The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmonyby Roberto Calasso, Tim ParksISBN 0679733485 (0-679-73348-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Mere Christianityby C. S. LewisISBN 0684846381 (0-684-84638-1)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Mere Christianity'Book summary:In 1941 England, when all hope was threatened by the inhumanity of war, C. S. Lewis was invited to give a series of radio lectures addressing the central issues of Christianity. More than half a century later, these talks continue to retain their poignancy. First heard as informal radio broadcasts on the BBC, the lectures were published as three books and subsequently combined as Mere Christianity. C. S. Lewis proves that "at the center of each there is something, or a Someone, who against all divergences of belief, all differences of temperament, all memories of mutual persecution, speaks with the same voice," rejecting the boundaries that divide Christianity's many denominations. This twentieth century masterpiece provides an unequaled opportunity for believers and nonbelievers alike to hear a powerful, rational case for the Christian faith.
With a new foreword by Lewis's stepson, Douglas Gresham, this illustrated gift edition evokes the historic time and place of the book's creation.
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Mere Christianity: Comprising the Case for Christianity, Christian Behaviour, and Beyond Personalityby C. S. LewisISBN 0684823780 (0-684-82378-0)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Mere Christianity: Comprising the Case for Christianity, Christian Behaviour, and Beyond Personality'Book summary:"Mere Christianity" is C.S. Lewis's forceful and accesible doctrine of Christian belief. First heard as informal radio broadcasts and then published as three seperate books - "The Case for Christianity, Christian Behavior" and "Beyond Personality - Mere Christianity" brings together what Lewis sees as the fundamental truths of the religion. Rejecting the boundaries that divide Christianity's many denominations, C.S. Lewis finds a common ground on which all those who have Christian faith can stand together, proving that "at the centre of each there is something, or a Someone, who against all divergences of belief, all differences of temperament, all memories of mutual persecution, speaks the same voice." [via]
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Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Moviesby Robert SklarISBN 0679755497 (0-679-75549-7)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies'Book summary:Hailed as the definitive work upon its original publication in 1975 and now extensively revised and updated by the author, this vastly absorbing and richly illustrated book examines film as an art form, technological innovation, big business, and shaper of American values. 80 black-and-white photos. [via]
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Naked Pictures of Famous Peopleby Jon StewartISBN 0688171621 (0-688-17162-1)
Softcover, Rob Weisbach Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Naked Pictures of Famous People'Book summary:Sometimes it seems like every standup comedian worth his or her salt just has to do the book thing, and you might feel that yet another warmed-over stage routine is the last thing you need taking up valuable bookshelf space. Jon Stewart's book will come as an extremely pleasant surprise. He eschews the standard standup patter and instead gives us 18 short comic essays in a variety of styles that recall the prose work of Woody Allen, only with a few more references to genitals. Stewart proves himself a remarkably nimble humorist with a sharp eye for parody, whether he's writing "A Very Hanson Christmas" or "Adolf Hitler: The Larry King Interview."
HITLER: ...Larry, look, I was a bad guy. No question. I hate that Hitler. The yelling, the finger pointing, I don't know ... I was a very angry guy.
KING: And this ... new Hitler?
HITLER: I get up at seven, have half a melon, do the jumble in the morning paper and then let the day take me where it will.... Me!! The inventor of the Blitzkrieg... When you stop having to control everything it's very freeing.
Stewart is not afraid to flirt with bad taste, in fact, some of the pieces in this collection do for "flirting with bad taste" what Bill Clinton did for "not having sexual relations." But it's wonderful to see an edgy comedian taking on the traditionally cozy genre of the humorous essay, creating work that combines the wit of Robert Benchley with the energy and attitude of the best modern standup. Naked Pictures of Famous People proves that Jon Stewart is as comfortable, and accomplished, in front of a word processor as he is in front of an audience. --Simon Leake [via]
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Nineteen Eighty-Fourby George OrwellISBN 0679417397 (0-679-41739-7)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'Book summary:Among the seminal texts of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a rare work that grows more haunting as its futuristic purgatory becomes more real. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell's nightmare vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one poor stiff's attempt to find individuality. The brilliance of the novel is Orwell's prescience of modern life--the ubiquity of television, the distortion of the language--and his ability to construct such a thorough version of hell. Required reading for students since it was published, it ranks among the most terrifying novels ever written. [via]
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Notes from a Small Islandby Bill BrysonISBN 0688147259 (0-688-14725-9)
Hardcover, HarperCollins Publishers
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Notes from a Small Island'Book summary:Bill Bryson is an unabashed Anglophile who, through a mistake of history, happened to be born and bred in Iowa. Righting that error, he spent 20 years in England before deciding to repatriate: "I had recently read that 3.7 million Americans according to a Gallup poll, believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another, so it was clear that my people needed me." That comic tone enlivens this account of Bryson's farewell walking tour of the countryside of "the green and kindly island that had for two decades been my home." [via]
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Out of It: A Cultural History of Intoxicationby Stuart WaltonISBN 0609610449 (0-609-61044-9)
Hardcover, Crown Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Out of It: A Cultural History of Intoxication'More editions of Out of It: A Cultural History of Intoxication:
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Paris to the Moonby Adam GopnikISBN 0679444920 (0-679-44492-0)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Paris to the Moon'Book summary:In 1995 Gopnik was offered the plush assignment of writing the "Paris Journals" for the New Yorker. He spent five years in Paris with his wife, Martha, and son, Luke, writing dispatches now collected here along with previously unpublished journal entries. A self-described "comic-sentimental essayist," Gopnik chose the romance of Paris in its particulars as his subject. Gopnik falls in unabashed love with what he calls Paris's commonplace civilization--the cafés, the little shops, the ancient carousel in the park, and the small, intricate experiences that happen in such settings. But Paris can also be a difficult city to love, particularly its pompous and abstract official culture with its parallel paper universe. The tension between these two sides of Paris and the country's general brooding over the decline of French dominance in the face of globalization (haute couture, cooking, and sex, as well as the economy, are running deficits) form the subtexts for these finely wrought and witty essays. With his emphasis on the micro in the macro, Gopnik describes trying to get a Thanksgiving turkey delivered during a general strike and his struggle to find an apartment during a government scandal over favoritism in housing allocations. The essays alternate between reports of national and local events and accounts of expatriate family life, with an emphasis on "the trinity of late-century bourgeois obsessions: children and cooking and spectator sports, including the spectator sport of shopping." Gopnik describes some truly delicious moments, from the rites of Parisian haute couture, to the "occupation" of a local brasserie in protest of its purchase by a restaurant tycoon, to the birth of his daughter with the aid of a doctor in black jeans and a black silk shirt, open at the front. Gopnik makes terrific use of his status as an observer on the fringes of fashionable society to draw some deft comparisons between Paris and New York ("It is as if all American appliances dreamed of being cars while all French appliances dreamed of being telephones") and do some incisive philosophizing on the nature of both. This is masterful reportage with a winning infusion of intelligence, intimacy, and charm. --Lesley Reed [via]
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A Passage to India: Library Editionby E. M. ForsterISBN 0679405496 (0-679-40549-6)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Passage to India: Library Edition'Book summary:What really happened in the Marabar caves? This is the mystery at the heart of E.M. Forster's 1924 novel, A Passage to India, the puzzle that sets in motion events highlighting an even larger question: Can an Englishman and an Indian be friends?
"It is impossible here," an Indian character tells his friend, Dr. Aziz, early in the novel.
"They come out intending to be gentlemen, and are told it will not do.... Why, I remember when Turton came out first. It was in another part of the Province. You fellows will not believe me, but I have driven with Turton in his carriage--Turton! Oh yes, we were once quite intimate. He has shown me his stamp collection.
Written while England was still firmly in control of India, Forster's novel follows the fortunes of three English newcomers to India--Miss Adela Quested, Mrs. Moore, and Cyril Fielding--and the Indian, Dr. Aziz, with whom they cross destinies. The idea of true friendship between the races was a radical one in Forster's time, and he makes it abundantly clear that it was not one that either side welcomed. If Aziz's friend, Hamidullah, believed it impossible, the British representatives of the Raj were equally discouraging."He would expect you to steal it now. Turton! But red-nosed boy will be far worse than Turton!
"I do not think so. They all become exactly the same, not worse, not better. I give any Englishman two years, be he Turton or Burton. It is only the difference of a letter. And I give any Englishwoman six months. All are exactly alike."
"Why, the kindest thing one can do to a native is to let him die," said Mrs. Callendar.
Despite their countrymen's disapproval, Miss Quested, Mrs. Moore, and Mr. Fielding are all eager to meet Indians, and in Dr. Aziz they find a perfect companion: educated, westernized, and open-minded. Slowly, the friendships ripen, especially between Aziz and Fielding. Having created the possibility of esteem based on trust and mutual affection, Forster then subjects it to the crucible of racial hatred: during a visit to the famed Marabar caves, Miss Quested accuses Dr. Aziz of sexually assaulting her, then later recants during the frenzied trial that follows. Under such circumstances, affection proves to be a very fragile commodity indeed.
"How if he went to heaven?" asked Mrs. Moore, with a gentle but crooked smile.
"He can go where he likes as long as he doesn't come near me. They give me the creeps."Arguably Forster's greatest novel, A Passage to India limns a troubling portrait of colonialism at its worst, and is remarkable for the complexity of its characters. Here the personal becomes the political and in the breach between Aziz and his English "friends," Forster foreshadows the eventual end of the Raj. --Alix Wilber [via]
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Skipping Toward Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in Americaby Dan SavageISBN 0525946756 (0-525-94675-6)
Hardcover, Penguin USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Skipping Toward Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America'Book summary:Dan Savage is irreverent, irrepressible, and opinionated. He's held his own on Politically Incorrect, told tales on This American Life, continues to write a beloved nationally syndicated column-and he's had it up to here (my hand is higher than my head) with the moral, conservative scolds who proclaim America is slouching towards Gomorrah (to use Robert Bork's phrase). Are we really that bad?
Yes, we are! And in Skipping Towards Gomorrah, Dan Savage eviscerates those cynics as he commits each of the Seven Deadly Sins himself (or tries to) and finds those everyday Americans who take particular delight in their sinful pursuits. Among them:
Greed: Gamblers reveal secrets behind outrageous fortune.
Lust: "We're swingers!"-you won't believe who's doing it.
Gluttony: Dan meets gluttons with attitude at a pro-fat conference.
Sloth: Leave it to Dan to find a way to celebrate this sin that will get him in trouble with his mother.
Anger: Texans shoot off some rounds and then listen to Dan fire off on his own about guns, control, and the Second Amendment.
Envy: Meet the rich-then be glad you're not one of them.
Pride: You'll never look at a gay pride parade the same way again.
Couple all this sinning with a unique history of the Seven Deadly Sins, a new interpretation of the biblical stories of Sodom and Gomorrah, and enough Bork, Bennett, Buchanan, et al, bashing to more than make up for their incessant carping, and you've got the most provocative book of the fall. [via]More editions of Skipping Toward Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America:
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Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Manby Susan FaludiISBN 068812299X (0-688-12299-X)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man'Book summary:Susan Faludi, author of the feminist bestseller Backlash, has done it again with an exhaustive report on the betrayals felt by working men throughout the United States. American men are angry and discontented, she argues in Stiffed, because their sense of what it is to be a man has been destroyed by everything from corporate downsizing and the shrinking military of the post cold war era to the increase in local sports teams leaving town. Whether she's interviewing the teenage male members of Southern California's infamous Spur Posse (who collected "points" for every female they had sex with), Cleveland football fans shaken by the departure of the Browns football team, militia movement activists, or Sylvester Stallone, Faludi seems stuck on the idea that American men today are man-boys, unable to completely grow up because they never received the nurturing they needed, and now constantly disappointed by life. Yet while many of the men Faludi interviews have real problems--bad luck and sad, troubled lives--somehow Stiffed still seems a bit whiny. Faludi's "travels through a postwar male realm" are a fascinating slice of male American life "under siege" at the end of the 20th century, even if she does finally leave us like the men she talked to--still wondering just what went wrong. --Linda Killian [via]
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Sun Tzu: The New Translationby Sun-Tzu, J. H. HuangISBN 0688124003 (0-688-12400-3)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Sun Tzu: The New Translation'Book summary:Sun-Tzu is a landmark translation of the Chinese classic that is without a doubt one of the most important books of all time. Popularly known as The Art of War, Sun-Tzu is one of the leading books on strategic thinking ever written. While other books on strategy, wisdom, and philosophy come and go, both leaders and gentle contemplators alike have embraced the writings of Sun-tzu.
Sun-Tzu is not simply another of many translations already available, but an entirely new text, based on manuscripts recently discovered in Linyi, China, that predates all previous texts by as much as one thousand years. In translating the text, researcher and interpreter J. H. Huang traced the roots of the language to before 221 B.C. to get to the original intent; Besides offering a wonderfully clear translation, Huang adds an introduction to the history behind Sun-Tzu and his own comments on the meaning of the text. In addition, Sun-Tzu includes six appendices, five of which were uncovered at Linyi and are not found in other editions.
The writings of Sun-tzu have stood the test of time, and J. H. Huang's Sun-Tzu is the edition for the next millennium and beyond. [via]More editions of Sun Tzu: The New Translation:
Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice : An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forestby Mark J. PlotkinISBN 0670831379 (0-670-83137-9)
Hardcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice : An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forest'More editions of Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice : An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forest:
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Them: Adventures With Extremistsby Jon RonsonISBN 0743233212 (0-7432-3321-2)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Them: Adventures With Extremists'Book summary:In Them, British humorist Jon Ronson relates his misadventures as he engages an assortment of theorists and activists residing on the fringes of the political, religious, and sociological spectrum. His subjects include Omar Bakri Mohammed, the point man for a holy war against Britain (Ronson paints him as a wily buffoon); a hypocritical but engaging Ku Klux Klan leader; participants in the Ruby Ridge and Waco, Texas, battles; the Irish Protestant firebrand Ian Paisley; and David Ickes, who believes that the semi-human descendants of evil extraterrestrial 12-foot-tall lizards walk among us. Despite these characters' disparities, they are bound by a belief in the Bilderberg Group, the "secret rulers of the world." In a final chapter, Ronson manages, with surprising ease, to penetrate these rulers' very lair. He writes with wry, faux-naive wit and eschews didacticism, instead letting his subjects' words and actions speak for themselves. --H. O'Billovitch [via]
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Third Waveby Alvin TofflerISBN 0553246984 (0-553-24698-4)
Softcover, Bantam Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Third Wave'Book summary:The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler [via]
Totem and Tabooby Sigmund FreudISBN 048640434X (0-486-40434-X)
Softcover, Dover Pubns
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Understanding Comics: The Invisible Artby Scott McCloudISBN 0613027825 (0-613-02782-5)
Hardcover, Micro Data Base Systems, Incorporated (m d b s)
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art'Book summary:As all good card-carrying comic-book fans know, their sheer passion will never overcome narrow-minded critics and their baying cries of derision. There is far more to this perpetually underrated medium than a mix of art and prose. With this indispensable, spellbinding tome, writer/artist Scott McCloud rises to the challenge of dissecting what remains the most enigmatic of art forms. After all, says McCloud, "No other art form gives so much to its audience while asking so much from them as well". Over the course of 215 impeccably formed pages, McCloud joyously exposes and deconstructs a hidden world of icons in a most literate and valid manner. His charming guidance finds a place where Time and Space is effortlessly malleable and the reader is both a willing accomplice and necessary vessel for comics' singular magic. Cunningly presented in comic form, McCloud (or his comic equivalent) conducts a journey that spans thousands of years, taking in art from Prehistoric Man to the Egyptians to Van Gogh to Jack Kirby. Never has psychological and cultural analysis been so understandably clear, beautifully aided by clever visuals and his truly infectious love for the medium. By the end of this funny, charming, rare and exciting book, you'll not doubt the notion that a comic book "...is a vacuum into which our identity and awareness are pulled ... an empty shell that we inhabit which enables us to travel to another realm". A fine exchange for a little faith and a world of imagination. --Danny Graydon [via]
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Vamps and Tramps: New Essaysby Camille PagliaISBN 0679751203 (0-679-75120-3)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Vamps and Tramps: New Essays'Book summary:The bestselling author of Sexual Personae and Sex, Art, and American Culture is back with a fiery new collection of essays on everything from art and celebrity to gay activism, Lorena Bobbitt to Bill and Hillary. These essays have never appeared in book form, and many will be appearing in print for the first time. [via]
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Voluntary Simplicity: An Ecological Lifestyle That Promotes Personal and Social Renewalby Duane ElginISBN 0553227661 (0-553-22766-1)
Softcover, Bantam Books
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Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Richby Duane ElginISBN 0688121195 (0-688-12119-5)
Softcover, Quill
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich'Book summary:Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin, first published in 1981 and revised in 1993, is the sacred text for those wanting to liberate themselves from enslavement to a job and the pursuit of status symbols. Elgin's work emerges from a concern for the environmental consequences of our mass consumption lifestyles. His book exhorts us to save the planet and our souls by "living with balance in order to find a life of greater purpose." [via]
More editions of Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich:
- Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich: ISBN 0688003222 (0-688-00322-2)
Softcover, Morrow - Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich: ISBN 0688036473 (0-688-03647-3)
Hardcover, Morrow - Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich: ISBN 0688121195 (0-688-12119-5)
Softcover, Quill
- Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich: ISBN 0688003222 (0-688-00322-2)
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Why We Buy: The Science of Shoppingby Paco UnderhillISBN 0684849143 (0-684-84914-3)
Softcover, Touchstone Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping'Book summary:In an effort to determine why people buy, Paco Underhill and his detailed-oriented band of retail researchers have camped out in stores over the course of 20 years, dedicating their lives to the "science of shopping." Armed with an array of video equipment, store maps, and customer-profile sheets, Underhill and his consulting firm, Envirosell, have observed over 900 aspects of interaction between shopper and store. They've discovered that men who take jeans into fitting rooms are more likely to buy than females (65 percent vs. 25 percent). They've learned how the "butt-brush factor" (bumped from behind, shoppers become irritated and move elsewhere) makes women avoid narrow aisles. They've quantified the importance of shopping baskets; contact between employees and shoppers; the "transition zone" (the area just inside the store's entrance); and "circulation patterns" (how shoppers move throughout a store). And they've explored the relationship between a customer's amenability and profitability, learning how good stores capitalize on a shopper's unspoken inclinations and desires.
Underhill, whose clients include McDonald's, Starbucks, Estée Lauder, and Blockbuster, stocks Why We Buy with a wealth of retail insights, showing how men are beginning to shop like women, and how women have changed the way supermarkets are laid out. He also looks to the future, projecting massive retail opportunities with an aging baby-boom population and predicting how online retailing will affect shopping malls. This lighthearted look at shopping is highly recommended to anyone who buys or sells. --Rob McDonald [via]
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A Year in Provenceby Peter Mayle, Judith ClancyISBN 0679731148 (0-679-73114-8)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Year in Provence'Book summary:Who hasn't dreamed, on a mundane Monday or frowzy Friday, of chucking it all in and packing off to the south of France? Provençal cookbooks and guidebooks entice with provocatively fresh salads and azure skies, but is it really all Côtes-du-Rhône and fleur-de-lis? Author Peter Mayle answers that question with wit, warmth, and wicked candor in A Year in Provence, the chronicle of his own foray into Provençal domesticity.
Beginning, appropriately enough, on New Year's Day with a divine luncheon in a quaint restaurant, Mayle sets the scene and pits his British sensibilities against it. "We had talked about it during the long gray winters and the damp green summers," he writes, "looked with an addict's longing at photographs of village markets and vineyards, dreamed of being woken up by the sun slanting through the bedroom window." He describes in loving detail the charming, 200-year-old farmhouse at the base of the Lubéron Mountains, its thick stone walls and well-tended vines, its wine cave and wells, its shade trees and swimming pool--its lack of central heating. Indeed, not 10 pages into the book, reality comes crashing into conflict with the idyll when the Mistral, that frigid wind that ravages the Rhône valley in winter, cracks the pipes, rips tiles from the roof, and tears a window from its hinges. And that's just January.
In prose that skips along lightly, Mayle records the highlights of each month, from the aberration of snow in February and the algae-filled swimming pool of March through the tourist invasions and unpredictable renovations of the summer months to a quiet Christmas alone. Throughout the book, he paints colorful portraits of his neighbors, the Provençaux grocers and butchers and farmers who amuse, confuse, and befuddle him at every turn. A Year in Provence is part memoir, part homeowner's manual, part travelogue, and all charming fun. --L.A. Smith [via]
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Zen and Japanese Cultureby Daisetz T. SuzukiISBN 0691017700 (0-691-01770-0)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Zen and Japanese Culture'Book summary:Zen and Japanese Culture is one of the twentieth century's leading works on Zen, and a valuable source for those wishing to understand its concepts in the context of Japanese life and art. In simple, often poetic, language, Daisetz Suzuki describes his conception of Zen and its historical evolution. He connects Zen to the philosophy of the samurai, and subtly portrays the relationship between Zen and swordsmanship, haiku, tea ceremonies, and the Japanese love of nature. Suzuki's contemplative work is enhanced by anecdotes, poetry, and illustrations showing silk screens, calligraphy, and examples of architecture.
Since its original publication in 1938, this important work has played a major role in shaping conceptions of Zen's influence on Japanese traditional arts. Richard Jaffe's introduction acquaints a new generation of readers with Suzuki's life and career in both Japan and America. Jaffe discusses how Zen and Japanese Culture was received upon its first publication and analyzes the book in light of contemporary criticism, especially by scholars of Japanese Buddhism.
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