'From personal story to history to critical philosophy, Barry Corr takes the Hawkesbury Frontier War to "cosmic" dimensions. Take this beautiful book with you and sit and contemplate everything that flows with the Dhurabang river ...' Stephen Muecke
]]>As the inaugural laureate, Yumna Kassab set herself the task of collecting her observations and thoughts on living in Parramatta, now one of the country's most important economic, political and cultural centres. Employing the dictionary form, the work is at once, as she says, 'memoir and reflection and vision and gathering and story and documentary'. The entries, from A to Z, cover a wide range of topics, from the uses of language and Kassab's favourite authors and books, to the fortunes (and misfortunes) of the Western Sydney Wanderers; from reflections on beauty, silence, colonisation and friendship to an appreciation of clouds and sunlight, parks and squares, and the city's cafes, the places where she writes. The entries also offer points of departure, through memory and association, to other places to Lebanon, Uruguay and especially to Palestine, whose fate casts a deep shadow over her daily experiences. It is a personal dictionary in other words, driven by feeling and admiration and a sense of responsibility, one which, in an unassuming manner, presents an intimate portrait of its compiler. As Kassab writes, 'It was my idea that a dictionary could tell the story of a person (me) in connection with a place (Parramatta) with enough flexibility to take in detours, digressions, musings, and general quirkiness.'
Praise for Yumna Kassab:
'Continuously surprising and probing...both personal and expansive; introspective and ambitious.' Kylie Mirmohamadi
'Stylish and searching writing, with an exquisite command of language holding fast through unstable experimentation with form.' Sydney Morning Herald
'Kassab has written reworks.' Guardian
'Kassab's prose is unsparing and frank yet unstinting.' Sydney Review of Books
]]>Bramble does not think we should get out of space entirely. On the contrary, he thinks that there is an important and exciting future in space science. Our activities in space, he tells us, should be animated by a curiosity about space itself rather than narrow economic or military interests.
'At last, a voice for science and exploration that exposes the short-term thinking and robber baron mentality of this phase of the Space Age. Bramble brings a philosopher's rigor to the key questions of the human future in space, stripping it of the high-powered salesmanship and empty fantasies promoted by a new generation of would-be conquistadores. An important book for anyone thinking of going to the Moon or Mars or beyond.' Ann Druyan, Creative Director of NASA's Voyager Interstellar Message
'This book is a welcome addition to the discourse about the human future in space. Ben Bramble provides a thoughtful critique of the dominant narrative about expanding human presence into space. The book is well-sourced, well-balanced, and a breezy read.' Linda Billings, consultant to NASA's Astrobiology and Planetary Defense Programs
]]>Of all the English poets born in the twentieth century, Wystan Hugh Auden is by far the most significant. This forthright biography explores the evolution of his poetic voice in tandem with his shifting beliefs Existentialism, Marxism, Freudianism and Anglo-Catholicism reflecting the intellectual climate of the century. Rooted in English traditions, Auden's work reveals both public and personal histories, from the Great Depression and Spanish Civil War to his experiences as a gay man navigating repression and later liberation. The book traces his journeys from Oxford to Berlin, China and America, bringing to life his turbulent era and the inner conflicts of his long relationship with Chester Kallman. This insightful and compelling account by acclaimed historian Peter Ackroyd captures Auden's genius as both a historical witness and an enduring poetic voice.
]]>In the wake of the Emmy Award-winning Shogun series, interest in Japan's ancient Samurai culture has never been higher. This book offers a bridge between their world and ours with a collection of sayings drawn from the turbulent final years of Japan's Warring States period and the dawn of the Shogunate.
Through the words of legendary warriors such as Tokugawa Ieyasu, Miyamoto Musashi and Oda Nobunaga, this volume contains the distilled wisdom of leaders whose greatness was forged in battle. It offers timeless lessons in how to act with integrity and compassion, and how to find stillness and calm amidst chaos.
It can be read as a series of daily meditations for quiet inspiration with voices from Japan's past illuminating a path forward in your own life toward greater awareness, discipline and inner peace:
The quotations in this collection are presented by artist Naoko Mikami, and each one is accompanied by her elegant works of calligraphy which bring the words in each saying to life on the page.
]]>While philosophers chase wisdom, this book takes a humbler route, asking instead how we might think just a little less badly. Drawing sharp distinctions between not thinking and thinking poorly, and doubling down on bad thought, it reveals how deeply these failings are tied to our mental habits. With clarity and humour, it considers how stupidity shapes everyday life and public discourse. Within its pages is a chapter on politics and a pointed critique of Donald Trump, 'stupid idiot supreme'. This is an accessible philosophical guide for anyone who wants to better understand and perhaps reduce - their own foolishness.
]]>Matt Bagguley is a translator of Norwegian fiction and nonfiction. He lives in Oslo.
]]>'Of course, we all want to be happy.' So wrote the Roman statesman, orator, and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero. He and his fellow Greek and Roman philosophers agreed that the secret to happiness or what they called the 'good life' is pursuing the "greatest good." The only problem is that they couldn't agree on what the greatest good is. Cicero addressed this dilemma by composing a set of dialogues, On the Greatest Good and Evil (De finibus bonorum et malorum), in which he pitted advocates of different philosophical approaches to happiness against one another. Notably, these include the Epicureans (who believe that the greatest good is pleasure) and the Stoics (according to whom it is moral virtue). Rather than choosing sides, Cicero considers the pros and cons of the different philosophies, ultimately leaving it to his readers to make up their own minds.
In How to Find Happiness, Katharina Volk offers a vivid new translation of selections from Cicero's work, complete with an introduction and the original Latin text on facing pages. The result is a lively and engaging debate that invites each of us to discover our own path to happiness.
]]>Katharina Volk is professor of classics at Columbia University and the author of The Roman Republic of Letters (Princeton), among other books.
]]>Pitting a sports skeptic, Anacharsis, against a superfan, Solon, this delightful and thought-provoking work tries to make sense of sports. Why do so many of us care so much about them? Are sports like boxing too violent? Should we take fitness so seriously? Do athletics have educational value? And, most important of all, why did the ancient Greeks exercise naked? While Anacharsis, observing a Greek sport that sounds something like mixed martial arts, asks what kind of citizens set aside serious affairs to watch young men beat each other to a pulp, Solon counters that sports have great civic benefits and that athletes are ultimately competing for the highest prize human excellence.
Featuring an inviting introduction, a handy glossary, helpful notes, and the original Greek on facing pages, How to Compete is a winning exploration of why sports are more than just a game.
]]>Heather L. Reid is professor emerita at Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa. Her books include Introduction to the Philosophy of Sport and Athletics and Philosophy in the Ancient World.
Phillip Mitsis is the A. S. Onassis Professor of Hellenic Culture and Civilization at New York University. His books include The Oxford Handbook of Epicurus and Epicureanism.
]]>Plutarch is most famous as the author of Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of Greek and Roman statesmen. But he was also an expert on teaching and learning and How to Listen is arguably one of his best pedagogical works. A proponent of active listening well before its time, Plutarch explains the skills we need and the obstacles and distractions we must overcome to become effective listeners. Good listening requires, above all, an acknowledgement of our own ignorance in certain subjects and a commitment to gaining knowledge. We must set aside pride and envy so we can respect the expertise of others. We must also train ourselves to see through style and focus on substance, to discriminate between weak and strong arguments, and to criticise ideas fairly and accurately.
Filled with shrewd insights and advice, How to Listen shows how to cultivate a skill that everyone who wants to learn and live well must master.
]]>Jeffrey Beneker is professor of classics at the University of WisconsinMadison. He is the editor and translator of Plutarch's How to Be a Leader (Princeton) and the author of The Passionate Statesman: Eros and Politics in Plutarch's Lives.
]]>This wisdom is drawn from John Cassian's fifth-century CE Collationes, one of the most influential manuals for monks from late antiquity. The Collationes follow Cassian and his friend Germanus as they travel around Egypt, asking a series of sage monks how they can make their minds stronger. In response, these monks offer a range of techniques for increasing focus, including setting goals, training the body, managing the memory, using mantras, taking breaks, consulting others-and, most of all, being honest about yourself. As Cassian and Germanus eventually realise, we can't escape distraction - but we can learn how to confront it and, eventually, to concentrate.
Featuring an engaging new translation by Jamie Kreiner and the original Latin on facing pages, How to Focus can help even the least monkish of us to train our attention on what matters most.
]]>As powerful as jokes can be, they are also hugely risky. The line between a witty joke and an offensive one isn't always clear. Cross it and you'll look like a clown, or worse. Here, Cicero and Quintilian explore every aspect of telling jokes-while avoiding costly mistakes. Presenting the sections on humour in Cicero's On the Ideal Orator and Quintilian's On the Orator's Education, complete with an enlightening introduction and the original Latin on facing pages, How to Tell a Joke examines the risks and rewards of humour and analyses basic types that readers can use to write their own jokes.
Filled with insight, wit, and examples, including more than a few lawyer jokes, How to Tell a Joke will appeal to anyone interested in humour or the art of public speaking.
'Though I had some quibbles with the Latin translation, largely because I don't read Latin, I agreed with the two-millennium-old rules on humor. Or maybe it's 'two millennia.' I should probably learn some Latin.' - Joel Stein, humorist and author of In Defense of Elitism
'This book is a delight! Humor can be one of the hardest things to translate, but How to Tell a Joke makes the jokes and insights of two of antiquity's finest writers on humor accessible to a modern audience. Bravo!' - Julia D. Hejduk, Baylor University
'Providing highly readable, lively, and fresh translations of Cicero and Quintilian's classic writings on humor, How to Tell a Joke also features a crisp introduction that shows the relevance of their ideas for appreciating humor in the twenty-first century.' - Luca Grillo, University of Notre Dame
]]>How to Innovate is an engaging and entertaining introduction to key ideas about - and examples of - innovation and creative thinking from ancient Greece. Armand D'Angour provides lively new translations of selections from Aristotle, Diodorus, and Athenaeus, with the original Greek text on facing pages. These writings illuminate and illustrate timeless principles of creating something new - borrowing or adapting existing ideas or things, cross-fertilising disparate elements, or criticising and disrupting current conditions.
From the true story of Archimedes's famous Eureka! moment, to Aristotle's thoughts on physical change and political innovation, to accounts of how disruption and competition drove invention in Greek warfare and the visual arts, How to Innovate is filled with valuable insights about how change happens - and how to bring it about.
Carol Atack explores how his life in Athens influenced Plato's thinking, how he developed the Socratic dialogue into a powerful philosophical tool, and how he used the institutions of Athenian society to create a compelling imaginative world. Accessibly written, this book shows how Plato made Athens the place where diverse ideas were integrated into a new way of approaching big questions about existence and the societies we create, then and now.
'Philosophy is just the beginning in Carol Atack's page-turner. From Plato's own travels and troubles to the strange life and peculiar death of his teacher Socrates, the struggles of his city at the hands of enemies at home and abroad to the efforts of its citizens to make sense of things in an era of unending crisis, this is a gripping account of Classical Athens under siege told through the sharp eyes and shifting ideas of its most notable son.' Josephine Quinn, author of How the World Made the West: A 4,000-Year History
]]>Galileo, Leonardo, Newton, and Tesla revered him: Archimedes of Syracuse an engineer who single-handedly defied the world's most powerful army and a mathematician who knew more in 212 BCE than all of Europe would know for the next seventeen centuries. In this bold reimagining, modern polymath Nicholas Nicastro shines a new light on Archimedes' life and work. Far from the aloof, physically inept figure of historical myth, Archimedes is revealed to be an ambitious, combative, and fiercely competitive man. A genius who challenged an empire, Archimedes emerges in this book as the world's first fully modern scientist millennia before his intellectual descendants transformed our world.
]]>This book oers a fresh perspective on the reign of Alexander the Great. It re-examines Alexander's military victories and personality, while also exploring the impact of his campaigns on the people he conquered. Alexander's story, Stephen Harrison argues, is one that includes the vital roles that other gures played in historical events. By considering the social and intellectual currents of the last two decades, Harrison highlights how changing contemporary experiences shape historical interpretations. Moving beyond polarised debates about Alexander, he provides a nuanced discussion of Alexander's achievements and impact. The book presents an Alexander for the twenty-rst century, oering new insights into how and why historical interpretations of him have changed.
]]>This book guides us through the fascinating life and writings of Marcus Aurelius, Stoic philosopher and Roman emperor. Philosopher William O. Stephens explores Marcus's reluctant rise to power, his marriage, and his efforts to mould his son into a just successor. He examines Marcus's Stoic tenets as he describes the struggles of dealing with a fifteen-year pandemic, the betrayal of a trusted general, social upheaval centred on a new 'superstition' (Christianity), and how Marcus's determination to stabilise the empire's borders resulted in strife, broken treaties, and protracted wars. This gripping narrative of Marcus's life, times, and thought, as well as his complex legacy will appeal to all those interested in Roman history.
]]>Acclaimed international writing expert Helen Sword invites you to step into your 'WriteSPACE' a space of pleasurable writing that is socially balanced, physically engaged, aesthetically nourishing, creatively challenging, and emotionally uplifting. Sword weaves together cutting-edge findings in the sciences and social sciences with compelling narratives gathered from nearly six hundred faculty members and graduate students from across the disciplines and around the world. She provides research-based principles, hands-on strategies, and creative 'pleasure prompts' designed to help you ramp up your productivity and enhance the personal rewards of your writing practice. Whether you're writing a scholarly article, an administrative email, or a love letter, this book will inspire you to find delight in even the most mundane writing tasks and a richer, deeper pleasure in those you already enjoy.
Exuberantly illustrated by prizewinning graphic memoirist Selina Tusitala Marsh, Writing with Pleasure is an indispensable resource for academics, students, professionals, and anyone for whom writing has come to feel like a burden rather than a joy.
'Intrinsic motivations like joy and fascination can and should propel our writing all the more so when extrinsic rewards seem few. In this generous, generative book, Helen Sword offers us ample encouragement and insight on how, even in difficult times, we can dare to seek delight.' Margy Thomas, founder of ScholarShape
'At last, a writing guide that doesn't scold or ridicule, but treats the challenge of writing well as a form of pleasurable mastery.' Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, author of The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century
'Sword is the prophetic voice crying out in academia's wilderness: 'Write with pleasure! It can be done! Come and see!' Through enviable prose, enticing poems, and elegant illustrations, readers see the pleasure, feel it, apply it to their own writing and, when all is read and done, cannot resist repenting.' Patricia Goodson, Texas A&M University
'Helen Sword has been helping me improve my writing for more than a decade. In Writing with Pleasure, she finally taught me how to love it and keep loving it. If you want to make writing a painless habit, this book is for you.' Inger Mewburn, Australian National University
'Writing with Pleasure itself a pleasure in the reading opens exciting vistas onto the great expanse of writing: the aesthetics in the written, the corporeality of the writer, the emotions felt for and from writing. This original and inventive book charts new territory for anyone who writes and for everyone who researches writing.' Daniel Shea, Heidelberg University, Germany
]]>Selina Tusitala Marsh is a poet, academic, and illustrator whose books include three volumes of poetry and the Mophead series of graphic memoirs.
]]>Herbs have been used for centuries to cure all manner of ailments. They were especially important as home remedies for the many people without access to a trained physician before the advent of affordable healthcare. In the Middle Ages, monastery gardens were used to cultivate plants to treat not only their own house, but also the secular community that surrounded them. Information about the medicinal properties of plants was gathered into books known as herbals, which gained a much increased audience with the advent of printing.
Nature's Apothecary features a selection of 100 plants showing how not only herbs but also flowers, fruit and vegetables have been used in different ways for medicinal purposes. Exquisite colour illustrations from the renowned Herball by John Gerard, first published in 1597, accompany short narratives describing the social, cultural and historical importance of plants growing naturally in the hedgerows and meadows, and in gardens, as well as more exotic flowers from further afield, drawn from the writings of a range of herbalists including John Gerard, Nicholas Culpeper and Elizabeth Blackwell. Together, they give a fascinating history of nature's extraordinary role in both formal and folk medicine.
]]>Artist and activist Ai Weiwei is famous around the world. He builds bridges through art and has been fighting to create, maintain and grow passageways for communication almost all his life. From single objects like Coca Cola Vase to structures like Forever Bicycles to installations like Sunflower Seeds, Ai Weiwei's art is displayed publicly in numerous countries; renowned museums are desperate to get their hands on his artifacts. But who is the person behind the international label 'Ai Weiwei', and what drives his restless creative mind?
Ai Weiwei was born in 1957 to Chinese poet and government critic Ai Quing and grew up in Manchuria and Xinjiang, where his father was exiled, before later relocating to the United States. In 2011 now back in China he was prevented from leaving the country and imprisoned for 81 days.
Shaped by these early experiences, Ai Weiwei began to feel like an outsider at an early age. It is this existential feeling of displacement that Ai Weiwei transforms into the universal through art. Hardly any other work highlights his sensitivity towards the topic more than his film Human Flow, which was shown worldwide and is the result of large-scale research on refugee movements across the globe. His philosophical reflections in this book directly relate to his time in Berlin, in the autumn of 2015, those weeks when everything changed in Germany. Watching Berlin's transformation spurred Ai Weiwei to venture out and visit refugee camps all over the world.
In Manifesto without Borders, his memories become a confessio far beyond lart pour lart and the technocratic truisms of politicians. With its urgent, sometimes disconcerting but always listening approach, the book offers an alternative: a plea for peaceful communication, a kind and humanitarian act a deep commitment to advocacy in our current times.
]]>The Shah's Party colourfully captures Iran's oil-rich boom years. In 1971, eight years before the dynasty fell, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his glamorous wife, Farah Diba, hosted one of the largest gatherings of world leaders ever, celebrating the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian monarchy. But this stranger-than-fiction event, staged in a tented city by the ancient ruins of Persepolis, came amidst a rise in leftist agitation and a turn towards political Islam.
Ruhollah Khomeini, an exiled mullah, began a relentless campaign against the Shah. A skilled populist, Khomeini tapped into growing inequalities and resentments to push his theocratic vision, particularly among those who had left the countryside in search of work. The Shah's autocratic style played poorly in a world increasingly concerned with human rights.
The Persepolis party became a symbol of Iran's regime, allowing the Shah's critics to portray him as repressive and out of touch with the struggles of ordinary people. Khomeini's novel religious populism and his mastery of messaging steamrollered the Shah; he left it too late to move towards democracy, losing the support of his army, his people and his allies. In 1971, trickles of dissent started to build into a revolutionary torrent that, within a decade, would end the dynasty.
]]>This nimble tour through North Korea's history revisits sixteen knife-edge moments when collapse, reform or war nearly shattered the Kim dynasty. Structured in four acts from the peninsula's partition in 1945 to Kim Jong-un's 2020 health scare each chapter reconstructs a crisis and asks, what if?
Regime change has come within reach far more often than we realise: defeat in the Korean War, leadership challenges in 1956, aborted coups, unrest during a currency crisis even an armed clash with the US in the 1990s. Kim Il-sung's acclaimed biographer, Fyodor Tertitskiy, guides readers through these events, and explores why change failed to materialise on each occasion. His narrative blends the twists and turns of palace intrigue and battlefield drama with crystal-clear dissections of ideology, institutions and great- power competition.
Drawing on Korean, Russian, Chinese and Japanese sources, Tertitskiy offers nuance without special pleading. By tracing the decisions, miscalculations and foreign interventions that locked the peninsula into stalemate, Pyongyang on the Brink offers a swift, fresh look at deterrence, engagement and the future of millions living under the Kims' yoke. Is North Korea truly doomed to never-ending tyranny?
]]>Based on extensive new sources in Korean, Russian, Chinese and Japanese, Fyodor Tertitskiy tells the unlikely story of one of the twentieth century's most brutal but little-known dictators, from his early life in Japanese Korea to the lasting repercussions of his autocratic rule today. Tertitskiy showcases Kim's political prowess in gaining autonomy from the USSR; explores how his inept economic policy led to catastrophic famine; and highlights how he implemented a system of hereditary rule, paving the way for today's 'Supreme Leader', Kim Jong-un, to assume power and continue his grandfather's vision.
Accidental Tyrant serves as a stark cautionary tale, underscoring that the triumph of liberty is never guaranteed. Met with insufficient resistance, even the most unlikely leader can build a regime of repression and privation that long outlives its founder.
]]>In 1552, sixteen-year-old Felix Platter left Basel, Switzerland, and journeyed 370 miles to Montpelier, France to study medicine. His journals chronicle five astonishing years of youth in a time of plague, war, and awakening. A Protestant in a Catholic kingdom, Felix witnessed blood-chilling executions and engaged in secret religious discussions with his landlord, a Marrano Jew. He learned to play the lute, tasted olive oil for the first time, and swam in the sea. He flirted (unsuccessfully) and danced (disastrously), fled from highway robbers, saw John Calvin preach, survived an outbreak of the bubonic plague, joined in a massive, orange-throwing food fight, acquired a dog, and spent one Christmas Eve alone and afraid of the dark.
Most astonishing of all, he wrote it down.
As Stephen Greenblatt writes in his introduction to this new edition, 'Keeping diaries and writing autobiographies did not become a widespread practice until the mid-seventeenth century' but Felix created an astonishing document: an intimate, sometimes hilarious chronicle of Renaissance adolescence from the inside, whose 'vividness, intimacy, candour, and charm' lend it an 'altogether rare and revealing character.'
]]>Stephen Greenblatt is an American literary historian and author. He has served as the John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University since 2000. His books include Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare and The Swerve: How the World Became Modern.
]]>A right-wing Republican administration seemed bent on rolling back the advances of the civil rights era; the Supreme Court were partially reversing the Roe vs Wade ruling on abortion; criminals from the Central Park rapist to the serial killers Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacey were all over the news.
Who did Williams turn to make sense of all this? America's crime writers that's who. He talked to novelists like James Ellroy and Elmore Leonard, Sara Paretsky and James Lee Burke, and visited the places they write about, like Los Angeles and Detroit, Chicago and New Orleans.
The result was an instant cult classic that remains deeply relevant today: both an incisive and funny travelogue and a revealing guide to the lives and works of America's finest crime writers, caught at their peak.
This updated and expanded edition includes a new afterword by the author and a foreword by acclaimed novelist David Peace.
]]>As Scotland's capital since 1437, the city has witnessed many of the key events which have shaped the nation. But Edinburgh has always been much more than just a political centre. During the Enlightenment, it was one the intellectual powerhouses of Europe, and in the twentieth century it became the arts capital of the world with the founding of its many festivals. Finance, religion, education and industry are also important parts of the story.
Alistair Moffat explores these themes and many more, showing how the city has grown, changed and adapted over the centuries. He introduces Edinburgh's famous places and people including monarchs, murderers, writers and philosophers as well as the ordinary citizens who have contributed so much to the life of one of the world's best-known and most beautiful cities.
]]>Do you know the names of all the sushi at a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant? Or the kinds of fish they use, where they come from and what they taste like?
Whether you're at a budget sushi-train restaurant or a high-end omakase sushi bar in Tokyo, this handy pocket guide explains all kinds of sushi you're likely to encounter their names, how they are prepared, what they taste like, the ingredients used and even their relative prices!
This invaluable book presents 333 different types of sushi with colour photos, descriptions and information about the preparation methods, flavors and origins of the fish. They include:
Also included is a brief history of sushi, an explanation of the different types of sushi restaurants in Japan, seafood varieties and a glossary of Japanese terms. A 'must-have' for all sushi lovers, professional chefs and Japanese food enthusiasts!
]]>Money Beyond Borders recounts how Greek and Roman coins became the first true international currencies. It tells how the Florentine gold florin became the 'greenback of the Renaissance', and how it was succeeded by Spanish silver and a Dutch fiat currency. The book explains why the British pound dominated the international economy in the nineteenth century, why the dollar rose to the top during World War II, and why the dollar has survived predictions of the imminent loss of its preeminence since the 1970s.
The long history of international currencies shows that the same factors that encourage their widespread use eventually lead to their abandonment. Money Beyond Borders makes a powerful case that the dollar is now on the downside of this cycle, and it considers who the winners and losers will be when there is flight away from the greenback. Revealing important patterns in the life cycles of international currencies over the past 2,500 years, the book offers valuable lessons and insights about how currencies rise and why they fall.
'A history of international currencies, spanning 2700 years, with huge relevance to the role of the US dollar today.' Andrew Leigh MP
]]>Along the way, Nahin traces the evolution of high-speed electronic computation, explaining that it upended the way analysts approach complex math problems. After the postwar debut of ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) and the ever more powerful electronic computers that came afterward, problems that were simply too difficult or messy for analytical treatment could be defeated by the application of pure brute force the ability of computers to perform an enormous number of simple operations in just minutes. Today, we can harness that computational power from our couches. Accessible to anyone who's mastered high school calculus, this engaging book gives both mathematicians and non-mathematicians plenty to think about.
]]>In the mid-thirteenth century, Europe was shaken by the Mongol invasions. Realising the immense potential for accessing remote markets in the East, Venetian merchants, diplomats, and seafarers established far-flung commercial networks with the Mongol Empire. Venice and the Mongols tells the story of this dynamic new era in world history, one that saw one of the most advanced maritime powers of the age bridge East and West in a new global marketplace created by the Mongol conquests.
In a panoramic narrative spanning nearly two centuries, Nicola Di Cosmo and Lorenzo Pubblici describe how Mongolian support of European merchants allowed for the exchange of goods and ideas across their vast empire, and how cooperation with the khans enabled the Venetian city-state to trade safely, grow its influence, and expand its territory eastward while opening Europe to new markets. Di Cosmo and Pubblici shed light on trade practices, legal structures, and cultural relations, and share new perspectives on Marco Polo's travels in Mongol-controlled territories. They examine Venetian strategies in the face of Mongol and Genoese rivalry and show how the city-state adapted to the challenges posed by the decline of Mongol authority and the ascendance of the Ottomans in the latter half of the fourteenth century.
Blending vivid storytelling with rich archival research, Venice and the Mongols challenges conventional perspectives on the Mongols as mere agents of destruction and shows how Venice ushered in a new era of commerce and diplomacy in an interconnected medieval world.
]]>Lorenzo Pubblici is professor of premodern central Asian history and cultures at the University of Naples L'Orientale. His books include Mongol Caucasia: Invasions, Conquest, and Government of a Frontier Region in Thirteenth-Century Eurasia (12041295).
]]>Michelangelo and Titian is the untold story of history's greatest artistic rivalry, a competition between two monumental figures more admiring of one another than either would ever admit. William Wallace brings the world of the sixteenth century to life, and in particular its culture of gossip and intrigue. Wallace challenges the established narrative of this relationship as mostly one-sided, with the younger artist in competition with the reigning master. He shows how the artists moved in overlapping courtly and papal circles, sharing the patronage, power, and sometimes friendship of the most important people of their era, including members of the Medici, Este, and Farnese families. Wallace traces how, over the span of some forty years, this unspoken rivalry was reciprocal and mutually beneficial, with each learning from the other's brilliance, quietly seeking to best the other's work and secure his own legacy.
An extraordinary achievement, Michelangelo and Titian is a compelling account of two supremely gifted rivals who inspired each other to test the limits of their creative genius, and in doing so created some of the most astonishing works of art the world has ever known.
]]>Maya history was seemingly lost forever when the first Europeans encountered the great ruins of ancient cities in what is today Mexico and Central America. Today, with the recent decipherment of their ancient writings, the story of the Maya can now be told from their perspective. Stuart traces the rapid emergence of permanent settlements in the rainforest, which gave rise to monumental architecture and a flourishing urbanism and ushered in the Classic period of Maya civilisation beginning in the mid-second century CE. He reveals a world of majestic royal courts tightly bound together by marriages, shifting alliances, and warfare, much of it driven by the ambitions of two major dynasties, the Kanuls and Mutuls. Stuart describes how the long-standing rivalry between these two great houses shaped the fates of the surrounding kingdoms and may have set the stage for 'the Great Rupture' of the ninth century, when the royal courts buckled under the weight of internal strife, social unrest, and environmental crisis, transforming Maya civilisation yet again.
With stunning illustrations, including many of Stuart's own drawings and images, The Four Heavens is a work of momentous historical sweep, one that paints an unforgettable portrait of the Maya and the richly complex social, political, and cosmological worlds in which they lived.
Available in Spanish from our partners at Grupo Planeta.
]]>The story of the ten plagues resonates today, as we try to make sense of such calamities of modern life as pandemics, climate change, and war. In Disasters of Biblical Proportions, Steven Weitzman explores how people of later ages artists, writers, activists, philosophers, believers and unbelievers alike have reshaped the story of the ten plagues to give expression to their own trauma, outrage, guilt, humour, and hope.
Tracing the interpretation and retelling of each plague across time and space, Weitzman uncovers how this ancient tale found new meaning among Jews, Christians, and Muslims and continues to shape how people today understand the present and envision the future. Even as it recounts the history of how the ten plagues have been reimagined, Disasters of Biblical Proportions is also a history of people's search for shelter from the calamities of their own times and of humanity's striving for justice, freedom, and redemption.
]]>Using his unique approach of simplified mannequins and dynamic figure sketches, Tom shares his process for improving your figures holistically, understanding fabric physics, and capturing the fold, stretch, and crumple of believable clothing.
With over 300 pages packed with Tom's engaging drawings and accessible instruction, Drawing Clothed Characters is a perfect companion to Drawing Form & Pose, as well as an invaluable standalone resource in its own right.
Available alongside this book is a companion publication called Workbook: Drawing Clothed Characters, which features 200 pages of accessible instructions and figures to draw over on the pages, allowing the reader to practise the theory put forth in this main book.
]]>Edited by 3dtotal Publishing, based in Worcester, England, UK. 3dtotal publish high-quality art books dedicated to bringing invaluable training to beginners, hobbyists, and professionals alike. Their books feature top industry professionals from around the globe who share their experience in skilfully written step-by-step tutorials and guides. Illustrated throughout with stunning artwork, these best-selling publications offer creative insight, expert advice, and essential motivation.
]]>With 200 pages of accessible instructions and figures to draw over on the page, this workbook allows the reader to practise the theory put forth in the main book, while also functioning perfectly as a standalone. The exercises consist of partial references at low opacity, with the figure or geometric mannequin beneath the clothing provided so the reader can concentrate on drawing the clothes only. Additionally, this workbook includes some bonus clothing and pose references from the artist ones there wasn't room for in the main book.
This and the main title are follow-ups to Tom Fox's previous book, Anatomy for Artists: Drawing Form & Pose (over 30,000 copies sold to date), with the figure-drawing maestro taking a deep dive into the subjects of clothing and drapery. Using his unique approach of simplified mannequins and dynamic figure sketches, Tom shares his process for improving your figures holistically, understanding fabric physics, and capturing the fold, stretch, and crumple of believable clothing.
]]>Edited by 3dtotal Publishing, based in Worcester, England, UK. 3dtotal publish high-quality art books dedicated to bringing invaluable training to beginners, hobbyists, and professionals alike. Their books feature top industry professionals from around the globe who share their experience in skilfully written step-by-step tutorials and guides. Illustrated throughout with stunning artwork, these best-selling publications offer creative insight, expert advice, and essential motivation.
]]>Iconoclasm is in the air. Bitter debates rage on the streets and online over the proper fate of statues commemorating controversial figures, whether slave traders, imperialists or Confederate generals. It is an important question but to answer it, we must look beyond this final chapter in a monument's story.
Paul Brummell argues that statues can only be understood by exploring their changing roles throughout an entire, often complex, lifetime. Why do sculptors create human likenesses in metal or stone? Do our interactions with icons affect their significance? What happens when durable images outlive the worldviews of their sponsors? Why do some believe that rubbing intimate bronze body parts can bring luck? Can statues move, talk or even kill? And what should we really do with those we no longer want?
From a colossal golden Buddha in China to a centrally heated Swedish actress, Brummell tells the vibrant story of the world's most intriguing public monuments, from ancient times to today.
]]>The authors codirect the Integrating Sustainability into Strategy program at IMD. Their HBR article 'How to Market Sustainable Products' was included in HBR's 10 Must Reads 2025.
]]>Store aisles packed with products labelled 'environmentally friendly'. Businesses scrambling to respond to stakeholder demands that they make their operations sustainable. Ads touting green credentials for all kinds of enterprises. For a long time now, this has been the market landscape we've lived in, with companies such as Unilever leading the way and creating pressure for others to follow suit.
But the uncomfortable truth is that after years of investment in sustainable products and services, most companies still aren't seeing the payoff not financially, not in value for customers, and not in real environmental and social impact. Why not?
As IMD professors Goutam Challagalla and Frederic Dalsace show in this eye-opening and practical book, the shortfall is due to a strategic misalignment and a misunderstanding of what actually drives customers' purchase decisions. The authors flip conventional sustainability strategy on its head: instead of companies asking 'How can we make our offerings more sustainable?' they should be asking 'How can we use sustainability as a catalyst to improve the performance of our products, make them more affordable, or both?' Viewed this way, sustainability is an intrinsic, value-generating element of an offering rather than a costly add-on.
The authors call companies that understand this insight John Deere, Michelin, Schneider Electric, Nespresso, Reckitt, and others clean winners, or 'Resonators.' With wide-ranging and instructive stories, they show how Resonators use sustainability to increase customer value and generate robust profits.
Offering practical frameworks, tools, and tactics, Clean Winners is your essential guide to reimagining your sustainability strategy.
]]>Frederic Dalsace is Professor of Marketing and Strategy at IMD. Prior to IMD, he was a professor at HEC Paris, where he held the Social Business/Enterprise and Poverty Chair, sponsored by Danone, Renault, and Schneider Electric. He coauthored, with Muhammad Yunus (Nobel Peace Prize, 2006), the 2015 Harvard Business Review article 'Reaching the Rich World's Poorest Consumers.' Prior to his career in academia, Dalsace worked at Michelin and as a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company.
The authors codirect the Integrating Sustainability into Strategy program at IMD. Their HBR article 'How to Market Sustainable Products' was included in HBR's 10 Must Reads 2025.
]]>This is a startup story unlike most you've read, but as instructive and inspiring as any of the rest. It's the story of two entrepreneurs with $4,000 worth of track shoes stuffed into an AMC Gremlin who eventually launched a mail-order catalogue, Eastbay, that became a bible and a cultural icon to Gen X and Millennial kids. The catalogue that was such a powerful and authentic tastemaker that pro athletes swore by it and a burgeoning generation of sneakerheads coveted it.
This is also the story of a company ahead of its time that understood the affirming power and cultural significance of sneakers. A company that mastered the mail-order business we take for granted today before most of us understood it. A company that never wavered from its mission as it grew fast, suffered massive setbacks, then grew even faster until the catalogue reached tens of millions of kids across the world.
And this is the story of Art and Rick, born two days apart, bonded by the company they founded together and by a lifelong friendship that's lasted throughout a tumultuous, heady, difficult, exhilarating, frustrating, and ultimately profoundly rewarding career. Together they built a business that mattered, with as talented and devoted a team as any leaders could hope for.
In Eastbay, a generation of kids were encouraged to dream big and dream often, which is just what the founders were doing all along. This is their story.
]]>Brandon Sneed is an author and journalist who writes for the New York Times and Sports Illustrated. His book Sooner was described by Kirkus Reviews as 'elegantly written...vigorous and smart.' In addition, it was labelled 'the sports book of the year' by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Don Van Natta Jr., of ESPN. Van Natta also described Sneed's book Head in the Game as 'a thrilling manifesto.'
]]>What if one simple shift could make you feel as satisfied as getting an $84,000 raise? Research shows that really understanding your core values and living by them can deliver just that. Yet most of us struggle with this. We go about our work and our lives with only a vague sense of the values that underpin everything we do.
In What Do You Really Stand For? Columbia Business School professor Paul Ingram reveals that values are far more than a moral compass they're a source of advantage that can boost your performance, your leadership effectiveness, and your well-being.
Drawing on decades of research and the frameworks he's used with students and executives, Ingram presents a set of exercises and tools to help you articulate your values, integrate them into your work and life, build stronger relationships, and achieve better outcomes in all that you do.
Whether you're navigating a career decision or managing conflict, leading a team or an entire organization, or simply trying to live with greater purpose, What Do You Really Stand For? offers a powerful guide to taking more intentional control of your life and career and leading yourself and others with more clarity, confidence, and purpose.
]]>In this landmark book, John Ma provides a new history of the polis, charting its spread and development into a common denominator for hundreds of communities from the Black Sea to North Africa and from the Near East to Italy. He explores its remarkable achievements as a political form offering community, autonomy, prosperity, public goods, and spaces of social justice for its members. He also reminds us that behind the successes of civic ideology and institutions lie entanglements with domination, empire, and enslavement. Ma's sweeping and multifaceted narrative draws widely on a rich store of historical evidence while weighing in on lively scholarly debates and offering new readings of Aristotle as the great theoretician of the polis.
A monumental work of scholarship, Polis transforms our understanding of antiquity while challenging us to grapple with the moral legacy of an idea whose very success centered on the inclusion of some and the exclusion of others.
]]>W. H. Auden described Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) as 'a whole climate of opinion / Under whom we conduct our differing lives'. The controversial father of psychiatry and psychoanalysis, Freud charted the human unconscious, brought us the talking cure, and wrote books that now rank among the classics of world literature. In On the Couch, the great analyst is analysed by some of today's great writers and thinkers, who help us understand the man who has helped us understand ourselves as much, if not more, than anyone else, ever. The result is a fresh, multifaceted reassessment of Freud's continuing relevance and influence on ideas, literature, culture, science, and more.
Here, Colm Tibn writes about Freud, World War I, Henry James, and Thomas Mann; Adam Gopnik explores Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents; Susie Orbach considers Freud's 'ordinary unhappiness' and D. W. Winnicott's 'good enough'; Jennifer Finney Boylan reflects on penis envy and gender identity; Peter Kramer describes how new science and drugs have revolutionised psychology since Freud; Susie Boyt, one of Freud's great-granddaughters, spends the night at the Freud Museum in London; Siri Hustvedt examines Freud's divided reception today; and there's much more.
Filled with insights, provocation, and humour, On the Couch offers an original and nuanced portrait of Freud as a complex figure who, for all his flaws, forever changed how we see ourselves and the world.
With original contributions by Andre Aciman, Sarah Boxer, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Susie Boyt, Gerald Early, Esther Freud, Rivka Galchen, Adam Gopnik, David Gordon, Siri Hustvedt, Sheila Kohler, Peter D. Kramer, Phillip Lopate, Thomas Lynch, Daphne Merkin, David Michaelis, Rick Moody, Susie Orbach, Richard Panek, Alex Pheby, Michael S. Roth, Casey Schwartz, Mark Solms, Colm Tibn, Sherry Turkle
]]>'Burman was the coauthor of the well-received book called The Pocket: A Secret History of Women's Lives, but in this new book, she has a much bigger canvas: to rescue sewing from the twilight and to celebrate it as a fundamental human activity...This book is a much broader one that seeks to shine a light on the extraordinary human endeavour of stitching.' Haptic & Hue, Book of the Year 2023
'[Burman] pulls off turning a lifetime's research, including her own Our Sewing Stories, into a book by having a strong, thematic narrative, fluent style and empathy with the more personal aspects of needlecraft...The book charts the social history of what is still perceived as a "gendered practice". It also explores needlework's moral and religious associations and the benefits it offers to well-being...At a more sensory level, evocative descriptions of scissors crunching through cloth, "earthy and seductive" Harris tweed, silk pleated "into rills like the delicate underside of a field mushroom", "swishy, flowy" synthetic jerseys and old-fashioned lutestring, fustian and dimity will resonate with lovers of haberdasheries.' Country Life
'Chronicling the intimate stories of people who sew today, this "trenchant" argument for the importance of sewing in our lives looks at identity, diversity, resilience and memory as it explores why we sew, what motivates us and why we mend things.' Bookseller
]]>'In this book Kragh, one of the premier historians of cosmology, offers a lively account of our conceptions of the universe from Aristotle to the present. Written for a broad audience, it also addresses ultimate pressing mysteries like what came before the Big Bang; the ultimate fate of galaxies, black holes, and life; and whether we may live in a multiverse. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the changing conceptions of our place in the universe.' Steven J. Dick, former NASA chief historian
'Kragh is the leading historian of scientific studies of the universe. He also possesses a rare ability to make complex ideas accessible and understandable. In Universe, we see him in sparkling form, presenting a lucid and engaging account of how people have envisioned the universe from ancient Greece to the twenty-first century. A reader could not ask for a better guide to this captivating story.' Robert Smith, professor of history, University of Alberta
]]>Immerse yourself in the marvellous land of Oz with TheTarocle of Oz deck, where tarot meets oracle in a quirky character-filled fusion of imagery and insight. This unique deck comprises seventy-eight beautifully hand-illustrated cards, each inspired by the iconic characters of L. Frank Baum's Land of Oz. It brings traditional tarot wisdom and inviting oracle messages together in a cohesive format that's suitable for beginners and seasoned practitioners alike.
Each card in TheTarocle of Oz introduces its own narrative, with an oracle message at the top and traditional tarot at the bottom of each card plus a distinct tarocle message detailed in the comprehensive guidebook. The depiction of Oz's beloved characters provides a narrative-rich experience that enriches readings with magical insights and reflections.
The versatility of TheTarocle of Oz allows for diverse approaches to cartomancy. Use it as a unified tarot and oracle deck for a holistic reading or either element separately for focused insights. The deck caters to various reading styles and preferences be it a quick card pull for morning inspiration, a thoughtful oracle session for daily guidance, or a thorough tarot spread to navigate the complexities of the week. Its adaptability ensures that it's the only deck you'll ever need, providing endless possibilities for exploration and growth in your personal practice.
]]>Claire Ruby has been immersed in the creative arts for over twenty years and is a passionate tarot reader. Ever since childhood, she's been drawing and doodling; blending these artistic pursuits with tarot felt like a natural progression. Collaborating with Emma Howard to bring their first deck to life was a dream come true. Outside of her demanding role as a nurse specialist, Claire finds solace in her decks and sketchbooks, using them to unwind and recharge. She lives in the picturesque Devon countryside with her husband, teenage daughter, and their beloved elderly dog.
]]>This enchanting journal is your key to exploring over sixty-six captivating spreads, each designed around Oz-themed adventures featuring the beloved characters from L. Frank Baum's timeless tales. Whether navigating the yellow brick road, seeking wisdom in the Emerald City, or uncovering mysteries in the dark forest, this journal invites you to discover new insights. Each spread within the journal acts as a doorway to one of Oz's magical lands the North, South, East, West and includes the captivating realms of the Emerald City and the enigmatic dark forest. Through these themed adventures, you'll engage with the familiar faces of the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, and many more. Every encounter offers a unique opportunity to delve into your subconscious and reveal personal strengths and hidden secrets.
The Tarot of Oz Journal is crafted to support both seasoned tarot practitioners and enthusiastic newcomers. Each spread encourages introspection and reflection, blending the ancient wisdom of tarot with the captivating narratives of Oz. Throughout your journey, you'll be inspired to forge meaningful connections between your own experiences and the enchanting themes presented in the journal. Whether you're reflecting on courage, assessing heart-driven decisions, or pondering complex choices, the wisdom of Oz is here to guide you.
]]>A stylish, all-in-one introduction to Japanese origami that makes it easy to create elegant models from your very first fold!
]]>This complete origami package features beautifully designed origami folding papers along with instructions for 20 easy-to-fold paper models that are just right for beginners. Here is what you get in this gorgeous book-and-paper hardcover package:
A stylish, all-in-one introduction to Japanese origami that makes it easy to create elegant models from your very first fold!
]]>A stylish, all-in-one introduction to Japanese origami that makes it easy to create elegant models from your very first fold!
]]>These exciting traditional Japanese paper patterns were developed to enhance the creative work of origami artists and paper crafters. The pack contains 12 different designs unique to this pack, and all of the papers are printed in coordinating colors on the reverse to provide aesthetically pleasing combinations in origami models that show both the front and back of the sheets.
This origami paper pack includes:
This origami paper pack includes:
500 sheets of high-quality origami paper
12 unique designs
Vibrant and bright colors
Double-sided color 6 x 6 inch (15 cm) squares
Instructions for 6 easy origami projects
]]>These exciting traditional Japanese paper patterns were developed to enhance the creative work of origami artists and paper crafters. The pack contains 12 different designs unique to this pack, and all of the papers are printed with coordinating solid colours on the reverse side.
This origami paper pack includes:
There's enough paper here to assemble amazing modular origami sculptures, distribute to students for a class project, or put to a multitude of other creative uses from scrapbooking to designing a beautiful bullet journal!
]]>This origami paper pack includes:
200 sheets of high-quality origami paper
12 unique designs
Vibrant and bright colors
Double-sided color 6 x 6 inch (15 cm) squares
Instructions for 6 easy origami projects
]]>These colorful origami papers were developed to enhance the creative work of origami artists and paper crafters. The pack contains 12 unique patterns, and all of the papers are printed with coordinating colors on the reverse to provide aesthetically pleasing combinations in origami models that show both the front and back.
This origami paper pack includes:
These paper designs were developed to enhance the creative work of origami artists and paper crafters. The pack contains 12 designs unique to this pack, and all of the papers are printed with coordinating colors on the reverse to provide aesthetically pleasing combinations in origami models that show both the front and back of the papers.
This origami paper pack includes:
These paper packs make an excellent resource for all different kinds of folding, crafting and scrapbooking projects. The package includes folding sheets as well as a booklet with instructions so that folders can start right away.
This origami paper pack includes:
There's enough paper here to create beautiful folded models, or put to a multitude of other creative uses from scrapbooking to designing a beautiful bullet journal!
]]>Monash University was founded in 1958 and by 1962 students were enquiring about the purchase of a rowing boat from the Melbourne University Boat Club. Despite concerns about the possible distracting effect on study and Clayton being 'well-removed from any suitable sheet of water', the male-only Monash University Rowing Club (MURC) was formed the following year. Its swift achievements matched those of the growing university, seeing it soon acclaimed as Victoria's premier rowing club, and joined by the Monash University Women's Rowing Club in 1973. Today, all Monash oarspeople row together under the MURC banner.
William P. Gurry, who as a young law student was a member of the rowing club from 1967 to 1972, including four years as Captain of Boats, here tells the full history of MURC for the first time. He writes of the number of challenges faced by the club and of its sustained success across the decades. He writes of the victories and losses, the obstacles encountered and what happened after, of the Olympians, the future captains of industry and the many successful careers of the MURC men and women. Most of all, in this beautifully designed and illustrated volume, he writes about what it means to compete 'against the odds'.
]]>Was the UK in decline? Brian Harrison points to Britain's unsuccessful adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan and its relative economic decline, underfunded hospitals, sink schools, over-filled prisons and terrorism of both Irish and Islamic varieties. Yet there were successes. Harrison shows how the UK's participatory institutions outmanoeuvred terrorism and precariously surmounted regional, intergenerational, ethnic and social-class tensions. This vibrant, creative society saw major improvements in time, place and recruitment for work, as well as growth and innovation in conservation, digitisation, tourism, consumerism, sport and the arts. Some changes were revolutionary: in family life and relations between the generations, and in the ever-changing electronic media. And if religious observance was in decline, immigrants were introducing new faiths and even a revived religious fervour while attitudes to health and death were changing fast.
A panoramic and wide-ranging analysis by a scholar at the height of his powers, Yesterday paints an evocative, richly textured portrait of a people who were shedding their complacency and insularity and bracing themselves to face a very different but promising future.
]]>In 1945, the new Labour government's development programme aimed at creating a social democracy that would benefit all members of society. The counterrevolution launched by Margaret Thatcher's government in 1979, which remains in force today, promoted individualism and deregulation. The transition from one programme to another was a response to the growth of finance and services centred on the City of London, and to decolonisation, which redirected trade to Europe. The expansion of credit led to the financial crisis of 2008 and the years of austerity that followed, and fuelled the populist movement that culminated in Brexit. Hopkins argues that, instead of following the free-market policies of its mentor, the United States, Britain should draw on its own history of social democracy and borrow from its neighbours in Europe, where communitarian principles continue to be upheld.
]]>Illouz argues that hope was the emotional foundation of modernity shaping ambition and promising improvement. But today, this hope has morphed into disappointment, envy, anger, or nostalgia because, she contends, advanced techno-capitalism has overseen both a series of transformations in modern democracies and the decay of nationalism. Drawing on the insights of literature and philosophy, Illouz outlines the psychological structure of these emotions; mobilising data from sociology and political science, she examines how and why they are deployed in society. Unbeknownst to us, she explains, emotions contain and enact the key ingredients of society. Norms, rules, social structures, and cultural guidelines are the invisible yet burning magma of emotions, the heart of their energy. Emotions continue the work of society inside the self. Mapping our epochal malaise, Illouz shows how and why all our previously established structures are unraveling.
]]>Thinking Through Shakespeare explores four perennial human problems: personal identity, the distinction between civilisation and barbarism, the relation between political power and religious authority and the tension between means and ends. It examines the history of these problems, from antiquity to today, and traces how Shakespeare engages with them in the great tragedies Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear but also in his other plays. Without arguing that human nature is universal or unchanging, or that Shakespeare has some special access to timeless wisdom, the book makes the case that his drama is powerful because it serves as a forensic tool, probing rival perspectives on questions that have preoccupied many people in many societies over many centuries.
By revealing in new ways how Shakespeare's plays are animated and driven by central human problems, and why he should again be viewed as the great poet of human nature, Thinking Through Shakespeare opens up a richer understanding and appreciation of his work.
]]>From one of our foremost experts on behavioural evolution, an entertaining exploration of what raccoons, rats, and other animal intruders teach us about intelligence, adaptability, and ourselves.
When we think of animals that provide the greatest insights into animal cognition and behaviour, primates and honeybees come to mind, or perhaps whales or octopus. What about the raccoons that plunder our rubbish at night, or the coyotes that threaten pets and livestock, or the gulls that divebomb for snacks at the beach? Outsider Animals challenges everything you thought you knew about the overlooked animals that live in proximity to humans, sharing the stories that each has to tell about adaptation and cohabitation on our increasingly crowded planet.
Marlene Zuk gives us a new appreciation for the animals we often shun, explaining why these unpopular creatures have something special to teach us not only about the ways we deal with other species but about our own place in nature and what it means for an animal to belong somewhere. You will discover how coyotes and snakes shed light on our coevolution with predators, what cockroaches tell us about the evolution of pregnancy, how butterflies make us reconsider the effects of roadside pollution, how cowbirds and mynas are forcing ecologists to think differently about invasive species, and much more.
Writing with an infectious blend of humour and curiosity, Zuk invites us to reflect on our relationships with these close-to-home creatures and the ways our lives encroach on theirs, and to draw lessons from their behaviour in all its fascinating complexity.
]]>As Bruya and Li argue, the main value of the Dialogues lies in its many philosophical clarifications and elaborations. At its core, it offers a valuable resource for understanding Confucius, his interactions with his students, and his philosophy. Each chapter includes both the original Chinese text and the English translation. The introduction includes a philosophical lexicon, and a 600-entry glossary at the end of the book provides context from the time of Confucius, enabling readers to understand how Confucius viewed his place in the world.
]]>Wenwen Li is the coauthor of several Chinese-language books on the philosophy of Confucius, including Studying the Dialogues of Confucius and The Logic of the Analects.
]]>With the rapid development of artificial intelligence and labour-saving technologies like self-checkouts and automated factories, the future of work has never been more uncertain, and even jobs requiring high levels of human interaction are no longer safe. The Last Human Job explores the human connections that underlie our work, arguing that what people do for each other in these settings is valuable and worth preserving.
Drawing on in-depth interviews and observations with people in a broad range of professions from physicians, teachers, and coaches to chaplains, therapists, caregivers, and hairdressers Allison Pugh develops the concept of 'connective labour', a kind of work that relies on empathy, the spontaneity of human contact, and a mutual recognition of each other's humanity. The threats to connective labour are not only those posed by advances in AI or apps; Pugh demonstrates how profit-driven campaigns imposing industrial logic shrink the time for workers to connect, enforce new priorities of data and metrics, and introduce standardised practices that hinder our ability to truly see each other. She concludes with profiles of organisations where connective labour thrives, offering practical steps for building a social architecture that works.
Vividly illustrating how connective labor enriches the lives of individuals and binds our communities together, The Last Human Job is a compelling argument for us to recognise, value, and protect humane work in an increasingly automated and disconnected world.
]]>David Lay Williams shares bold new perspectives on the writings and ideas of Plato, Jesus, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, and Karl Marx. He shows how they describe economic inequality as a source of political instability and a corrupter of character and soul, and how they view unchecked inequality as a threat to their most cherished values, such as justice, faith, civic harmony, peace, democracy, and freedom. Williams draws invaluable insights into the societal problems generated by what Plato called 'the greatest of all plagues', and examines the solutions employed through the centuries.
An eye-opening work of intellectual history, The Greatest of All Plagues recovers a forgotten past for some of the most timeless books in the Western canon, revealing how economic inequality has been a paramount problem throughout the history of political thought.
]]>In an account spanning from Asia to the Americas, Lauren Benton shows how imperial violence redefined the very nature of war and peace. Instead of preparing lasting peace, fragile truces ensured an easy return to war. Serial conflicts and armed interventions projected a de facto state of perpetual war across the globe. Benton describes how seemingly limited war sparked atrocities, from sudden massacres to long campaigns of dispossession and extermination. She brings vividly to life a world in which warmongers portrayed themselves as peacemakers and Europeans imagined 'small' violence as essential to imperial rule and global order.
Holding vital lessons for us today, They Called It Peace reveals how the imperial violence of the past has made perpetual war and the threat of atrocity endemic features of the international order.
]]>Spirit Guide Portal is meticulously crafted to open the channels of communication between individuals and their spirit guides. Each card in this mystical deck features a specific archetype that represents the ways we relate to behaviour, patterns, and narratives, serving as a catalyst for growth, introspection, and spiritual healing on both personal and collective levels. These archetypes help us see ourselves more clearly and understand where we are on our individual life paths.
Each spirit oracle card offers guidance in three ways: 'I Am,' 'I Offer,' and 'I Ask,' empowering you to embrace your spiritual journey with confidence, clarity, and a sense of purpose. This deluxe boxed set contains 40 gilt-edged cards and a 112-page full-colour guidebook.
]]>Ogham is a Celtic divination system based on the earliest form of the Irish alphabet. Within the traditional Celtic belief system, each of us is the centre of the universe. Ogham helps us understand our place in that universe, as well as what exists around and within us. It is a multidimensional gateway that leads us to self-understanding, allowing us to flow easier, find peace, and restore balance. It empowers us to grow, adapt, and achieve success. Ogham can be used to gain insight into any situation and bring forth solutions, provoke thought, and gain clarity on a profound level.
Ogham contains 25 cards and a 192-page guidebook. Each card has both a light and a dark interpretation. Through this duality we are reminded to stay neutral so we can better appreciate the nuance in any situation life brings us.
]]>In reaction to his traumatic loss, Emerson lost his Unitarian faith and found solace in nature. Thoreau, too, leaned on nature and its regenerative power, discovering that "death is the law of new life," an insight that would find expression in Walden. And James, following a period of panic and despair, experienced a redemptive conversion and new ideas that would drive his work as a psychologist and philosopher. As Richardson shows, all three emerged from their grief with a new way of seeing, one shaped by a belief in what Emerson called 'the deep remedial force that underlies all facts'.
An inspiring book about resilience and the new growth and creativity that can stem from devastating loss, Three Roads Back is also an extraordinary account of the hidden wellsprings of American thought.
]]>Megan Marshall is the Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Margaret Fuller: A New American Life.
]]>Natural Magic intertwines the stories of these two luminary nineteenth-century minds whose thought and writings captured the awesome possibilities of the new sciences and at the same time strove to preserve the magic of nature. Just as Darwin's work was informed by his roots in natural philosophy and his belief in the interconnectedness of all life, Dickinson's poetry was shaped by her education in botany, astronomy, and chemistry, and by her fascination with the enchanting possibilities of Darwinian science. Casting their two very different careers in an entirely fresh light, Renee Bergland brings to life a time when ideas about science were rapidly evolving, reshaped by poets, scientists, philosophers, and theologians alike. She paints a colorful portrait of a remarkable century that transformed how we see the natural world.
Illuminating and insightful, Natural Magic explores how Dickinson and Darwin refused to accept the separation of art and science. Today, more than ever, we need to reclaim their shared sense of ecological wonder.
]]>Democracy depends on a government that can govern, and that requires what's called administration. The administrative state is made up of the vast array of departments and agencies that conduct the essential business of government, from national defense and disaster response to implementing and enforcing public policies of every kind. Ungoverning chronicles the reactionary movement that demands dismantling the administrative state. The demand is not for goals that can be met with policies or programs. When this demand is frustrated, as it must be, the result is an invitation to violence.
Muirhead and Rosenblum unpack the idea of ungoverning through many examples of the politics of destruction. They show how ungoverning disables capacities that took generations to build including the administration of free and fair elections. They detail the challenges faced by officials who are entrusted with running the government and who now face threats and intimidation from those who would rather bring it crashing down and replace the regular processes of governing with chaotic personal rule.
The unfamiliar phenomenon of ungoverning threatens us all regardless of partisanship or ideological leaning. Ungoverning will not be limited to Donald Trump's moment on the political stage. To resist this threat requires that we first recognise what ungoverning is and what it portends.
]]>Nancy L. Rosenblum is the Senator Joseph Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government Emerita at Harvard University. They are the authors of A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy (Princeton).
]]>For Robert Pinsky, poetry's individual, human scale as a fundamentally vocal medium with poems brought to life by one person at a time gives poetry a unique importance in American and democratic culture and society. This book brings together two compelling works of criticism by the former poet laureate The Situation of Poetry and Democracy, Culture and the Voice of Poetry, in which he makes a passionate and eloquent case for the vital role of poetry in a democracy.
]]>India diverged long ago from the standard development model, the one followed by China from agriculture to low-skilled manufacturing, then high-skilled manufacturing and, finally, services by leapfrogging intermediate steps. India must not turn back now. Rajan and Lamba explain how India can accelerate growth by prioritising human capital, expanding opportunities in high-skilled services, encouraging entrepreneurship, and strengthening rather than weakening its democratic traditions. It can chart a path based on ideas and creativity even at its early stage of development.
Filled with vivid examples and written with incisive candor, Breaking the Mold shows how India can break free of the stumbling blocks of the past and embrace the enormous possibilities of the future.
'There are no better guides to how [India] might best leverage its potential and manage the obstacles...[Rajan and Lamba] expertly devise a new growth model for India, offering detailed recommendations for reforming the country's industrial strategy, healthcare, education and democracy...This is a novel, well-argued and solidly evidenced pitch for India's future...A must-read for anyone keen to understand a nation that will play a big part in all our economic futures.' Tej Parikh, Financial Times
'[Rajan and Lamba] sketch out a vision that amounts to an entirely new model of development for India one that they argue is better suited to its strengths than its current model.' The Economist
'A forthright accounting of the nation's many faults and enormous unused potential i.e., human capital...A sobering economic study packed with useful ideas.' Kirkus Reviews
]]>Rohit Lamba is assistant professor of economics at Cornell University and visiting assistant professor of economics at New York University Abu Dhabi. He previously worked as an economist at the office of the chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
]]>In short, use this book and you'll be eating in the places most tourists don't know about, visiting top attractions at times when the crowds are at their thinnest, and patronising the bars and clubs Spaniards hold dear.
Whether you're partying the night away in the Balearic Islands, exploring architecture and history in Barcelona or Bilbao, or walking the Camino de Santiago, this book will make your vacation better. We include advice the tourist board wouldn't approve of: which sites to skip, how to avoid the crowds, and how to stretch your travel budget further, whether you're on a lavish honeymoon or backpacking it.
Inside the guide:
About Frommer's: There's a reason Frommer's has been the most trusted name in travel for more than 65 years. Arthur Frommer created the best-selling guide series in 1957 to help American servicemen fulfil their dreams of travel in Europe, and since then, we have published thousands of titles, become a household name, and helped millions upon millions of people realise their own dreams of seeing our planet. Travel is easy with Frommer's.
]]>Patricia Harris and David Lyondrove almost every twisting mountain road as they researched four previous Frommer's guidebooks about Spain. Founders of HungryTravelers.com, they have a deep appreciation for the perfect codfish croqueta, an honest plate of patatas bravas, or a heap of garlic shrimp. They write about travel, food, wine, spirits and contemporary art for a range of U.S., Canadian, and British journals. When not on the road, they reside in Cambridge, MA, where their kitchen is well stocked with saffron from Consuegra, smoked paprika from Extremadura, chorizo from Castilla y Len, and a Valencian paella pan to bring them all together.
Murray Stewart has written and updated several travel guidebooks in the last decade. Before taking an abrupt career change, he 'enjoyed' a career in corporate restructuring. He has visited more than 60 countries, including spells teaching English in Chile and Mexico and consulting in Spain and Bulgaria. A keen walker, he has covered several routes of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. His guidebook to the lesser-known Camino Ignaciano pilgrimage was shortlisted for Best Travel Guidebook of 2022.
]]>A fascinating and eye-opening chronicle of the global history of oyster farming, the current state of the industry, and the possibilities of investing in oyster farming as a solution to food and climate challenges from veteran oyster farmer Dan Martino.
The oyster is one of Earth's oldest animals, and fossil records show humans have enjoyed them for hundreds of thousands of years. But like so many other creatures, wild oysters were driven to near extinction by overconsumption and pollution. The Clean Water Act, passed in 1972, marked a turning point for water quality, and decades later, we're witnessing a renaissance in oyster culture as the rise of aquaculture (ocean farming) attempts to supply a growing demand for oysters that increases exponentially year after year.
Internationally renowned oyster farmer Dan Martino guides readers through this fascinating history before presenting a detailed breakdown of the current state of the oyster industry as only an insider can describe it. He discusses husbandry, nursery, and farm techniques; the practical side of working with local government to set up a farm; tips for selling into the market; and what qualities make for the perfect oyster. He details the various global styles of farming and the species of oysters farmed, explaining how they differ in size, texture, shape, and taste characteristics referred to as 'merroir,' to parallel the way 'terroir' illuminates how the origin of place affects taste in wine.
The oyster has never been more relevant as we look to the future and the many challenges presented by climate change and a growing population. Martino explores how the current land-based food production system risks collapse as it tries to keep up with growing demand, and oyster farming, which uses no land and minimal freshwater input, is a natural alternative to more resource-intensive food sources. Oysters are also exceptionally good at capturing carbon, making them a necessary element in the quest for climate change solutions.
The Oyster Book is an exploration of the past, present, and future of humanity's relationship with the oyster, highlighting how humans can learn from our mistakes and harness the oyster's potential for a more sustainable future.
]]>Mollie Hughes has explored some of the wildest environments on earth, from the top of Mount Everest to the vast frozen continent of Antarctica, where at the age of 29 she skied solo from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole in a journey of over 700 miles through storm-force winds, eight-day whiteouts and temperatures as low as minus 45 degrees Celsius. With reference to her all-extreme experiences, and backed with psychological research,
Breathe encompasses tales of bravery, risk and pressure on an epic scale and expertly turns them into valuable lessons that can be applied to more everyday challenges. In doing so, Mollie shows how we can unlock our potential, regulate emotion, overcome fear, cope with psychological pressure and understand the importance of silence and headspace in our mental wellbeing.
]]>The career of Winston Churchill was no exception, with his eight months prior to becoming Prime Minister as First Lord of the Admiralty marked by the loss of important warships, the planning of disastrous expeditions and the design of impractical weapons. Based on archival and biographical research, this account argues that Churchill's actions at the Admiralty were for the most part misjudged and dangerous. Much of what happened could have been avoided, with lives saved and the defence of western Europe strengthened had other counsels prevailed.
Very much the opposite of a hagiography, A Study in Failure provides an alternative perspective on the man regularly considered the UK's greatest ever leader.
]]>Through unprecedented access to Abramovich himself and key figures from Chelsea's new ownership, as well as further interviews with a star-studded footballing cast, Nick Purewal unfolds a wide-ranging tale of political sanctions, hushed negotiations and Cold War-style geopolitics, all told in vivid, propulsive prose against a backdrop of war on the edge of Europe.
From the club's owners to its staff, players and supporters, via UK government intervention, dramatic peace talks and even a foul-play poisoning episode, Sanctioned chronicles ninety-five extraordinary days in English football.
]]>World-renowned international experts from the War Studies field consider the impact of the war in Ukraine on the broader social phenomenon of war: they analyse visions of future war; examine the impact of technological innovation on its conduct; assess our ability to anticipate its future; and consider lessons learned for leaders, soldiers, strategists, scholars and concerned citizens.
Beyond Ukraine features contributions from Azar Gat, Beatrice Heuser, Antulio Echevarria, Audrey Cronin, T. X. Hammes, Kenneth Payne, Frank Hoffman, David Betz, Jan Willem Honig, and many other pre-eminent thinkers on the past, present and future of war including an afterword by the late Christopher Coker.
'A remarkable achievement ... Beyond Ukraine provides sound perspectives, solid insights, and credible scenarios in the much broader field of security and strategic studies.' European Review of International Studies
'Beyond Ukraine is a welcome antidote to [the] myopia [of U.S. security discourse].' Joint Force Quarterly
'A broad and in-depth approach.' Clingendael Spectator
'The best edited volume on war and warfare to appear in this century.' Lt. Gen. (Retd) H. R. McMaster, former US National Security Advisor
'One of the most detailed and forensic explorations of the war in Ukraine and its implications for the future of conflict. Drawing together a superb array of experts, this book links the strategic, technological and human experience of war in Ukraine with the wars that are an unwelcome but inevitable part of our collective future.' Maj. Gen. (Retd) Mick Ryan, Australian Army
'Sweijs and Michaels have done a remarkable job pulling together a stellar collection of contributors who use the experience of the RussianUkraine war to illuminate all aspects of the future of warfare.' Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King's College London
'Of all futures to anticipate, those of war are the trickiest. An existential endeavour in which technology and human values meet under high pressure requires ingenuity, creativity and intellectual honesty to outline and frame. This book, written by the best in the field, has all of the above.' Florence Gaub, Director of the Research Division, NATO Defense College
'A timely, thoughtful analysis. Leading scholars delve into theoretical and empirical questions about great power war, technological innovation, people's war and other pressing issues.' Jacqueline L. Hazelton, Executive Editor of International Security, Harvard Kennedy School
'Given the infrequency of war as well as its changing character, soldiers and scholars must rely upon theory and history to guide them towards an uncertain future. These essays offer useful aids to navigating through the fog of peace.' Thomas G. Mahnken, Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies, Johns Hopkins University
]]>Jeffrey H. Michaels PhD is the IEN Senior Fellow in American Foreign Policy and International Security at the Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals.
]]>Why not? No-one had ever done it: one of the longest of all overland journeys, from the English Channel to Singapore. Several expeditions had tried. Some had reached the Persian deserts; a few, the Indian plains. But none had gone further: over the jungle-clad Assamese mountains, across northern Burma, to Thailand and Malaya. It was 1955. For the final 3,000 miles, it seemed, there were 'too many rivers and too few roads'. But no-one really knew...
They were undergraduates with no money, no cars no nothing, except cool audacity. They wheedled and cajoled, coaxing the BBC into supplying film for a possible series; 'persuading' Rover to lend them two factory-fresh off-road vehicles; sweet-talking a book publisher into offering an advance. By the time they set off, their eighty-plus sponsors ranged from whiskey distillers to collapsible bucketmakers. Seven months and 12,000 miles later, two weary, police-escorted Land Rovers rolled into Singapore to flash-bulbs and champagne. Here, their bestseller is republished, with a foreword by Sir David Attenborough. He had given them that film, after all.
'Delightful ... written with humour and beguiling gusto.' TLS
'The best travel book I have ever read.' The Motor
]]>Fonda on Filmspotlights the signature political films Fonda generated in the 1970s Coming Home, The China Syndrome, 9 to 5 and more that are still underappreciated even as Fonda endures as one of the world's most admired and controversial performers.
This is a movie book about a mega-celebrity, an origin story voyaging through Fonda's learning years in the 1960s and the calculated payoff of the 1970s. She emerged as a Hollywood scion challenged to prove herself while trying to rise above ingenue roles and sex-angst melodramas. Splitting time between the United States and France to stretch her range, Fonda broke through as the perky newlywed of Barefoot in the Park, the sci-fi pinup Barbarella and the Oscar-winning star of the sleek Klute.
And then Fonda earned her activist stripes with the Vietnam vets' Winter Soldier hearings and her alt-USO F.T.A. tour. She survived the "Hanoi Jane" flap and, by the mid-1970s, transformed into a singular star on an unparalleled moviemaking mission.
Fonda's long post-Klute break ended with bold comeback hits comedy and economic justice in Fun with Dick and Jane, high drama and political commitment with Julia. Over the following half decade, Fonda's production company generated the purposeful movies that still underpin her actor-activist persona, including the groundbreaking Coming Home on Vietnam, the timely The China Syndrome on nuclear power and the still-relevant 9 to 5 on workplace equality.
Her more recent work protesting the Iraq War in 2005 and ringleading the 201920 Fire Drill Fridays campaigns on Capitol Hill illustrates Fonda's political method and how it guided her movie work.
Fonda on Film is a movie buff's book, and a portrait of an iconic activist-artist bridging the gap between streets and screens.
]]>Higher education is perpetually in crisis, buffeted by increasing costs and a perceived lack of return on investment, campus culture that is criticised for stifling debate on controversial topics, and a growing sense that the liberal arts are outmoded and irrelevant. Some observers even put higher education on the brink of death. The New Global Universities offers a counterargument, telling the story of educational leaders who have chosen not to give up on higher education but to reimagine it. The book chronicles the development and launch of eight innovative colleges and universities in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North America, describing the combination of intellectual courage, entrepreneurial audacity, and adaptive leadership needed to invent educational institutions today.
The authors, both academic leaders who have been involved in launching ventures similar to the ones described, offer a unique inside perspective on these efforts. Bryan Penprase and Noah Pickus show how the founders of new colleges and universities establish distinctive brands in a sector dominated by centuries-old institutions, secure creative sources of funding, attract stellar faculty and students, and design appealing curriculums and campuses - all while managing tradeoffs and setbacks, balancing local needs and global aspirations, and wrestling with challenges to academic freedom. These new educational institutions include two universities in Asia and the Middle East built by well-established American parent institutions, others in Africa and North America that offer holistic reform from the ground up and leverage new technologies to lower costs, and still others that adapted the American liberal arts model to Asian and African contexts. Their experiences offer lessons for future founders of new universities - and for those who want to renew and rejuvenate existing ones.
]]>Noah Pickus is associate provost at Duke University and dean for academic strategy at Duke Kunshan University. He was formerly chief academic officer at Minerva Project, director of Duke's Kenan Institute for Ethics, founding director of the Institute for Emerging Issues at North Carolina State University, and cohort codirector of the Arizona State University-Georgetown University Academy for Innovative Higher Education Leadership. He is the author of True Faith and Allegiance: Immigration and American Civic Nationalism and coauthor of Liberal Arts and Sciences Innovation in China.
]]>With warmth and wisdom, the authors introduce three essential steps: fix the problem if you can, feel better about what you can't fix, and, when suffering persists, seek purpose and meaning. For each step, they provide specific, proven techniques to help you tackle problems, find comfort, and discover deeper significance in challenging times. Step-by-step instructions and decision-making tools make it easy to learn, apply, and choose the right approach for any situation. These science-backed strategies are designed for maximum flexibility and can be adapted to meet the reader where they are. Integrating twelve powerful, real-life interviews with individuals facing extraordinary stress, the book helps readers modify the tested methods to their unique challenges and personal preferences and provides a rare sense of hope.
Accessible, compassionate, and grounded in science, Coping presents a scientifically sound, practical, forgiving, and authoritative guide to caring for yourself.
]]>The Ten Stories suggests that most elderly people return to a core set of approximately ten stories as they reflect on their lives. The significance of those narratives lies not in their factual details, but in the values and meanings they convey. Most stories told are set during late adolescence and early adulthood often eight or nine out of ten originate during this period. The stories are also audience-specific, as they are shaped by the relationship between teller and listener. The book explores how stories told by mothers are different than those told by fathers; how stories told to sons differ from those told to daughters; and how the stories of immigrant parents differ from non-immigrants.
Social scientist and health policy researcher Mary Ann McColl provides insight into what older adults may be expressing through repeated stories. She shares twenty recurring themes emerging from the stories such as overcoming obstacles, showing kindness, regrets and resentments, and standing up for what's right that represent an opportunity for connection and understanding, rather than a source of frustration. This book offers practical strategies for listening more effectively and appreciating those narratives as intentional, meaningful acts of communication.
]]>He first met NoFit State in 1984 at the Glastonbury festival, where they taught him to juggle, and performed in several NoFit State productions in the 1990s. He is author of Operation Violet Oak: A Story of False Accusation (Seren, 2022) and holds an MA in Creative Writing from Cardiff University, 2017.
]]>Cardiff, Wales, 1983. A bunch of university dropouts and unemployed hippies find themselves united by two things: a talent for juggling and a desire to live a different kind of life. They decide it might be fun to juggle their way out of the rat race by founding a circus, which they call 'NoFit State'.
How does this group grow from its lowly origins as buskers on the city streets to become one of the most admired and respected contemporary circuses in the world?
Stephen Glascoe, a member of NoFit State's amateur community group 'Splott State Circus', takes us behind the scenes of the drama, stress and joy of a radical modern circus.
Based on in-depth interviews with the founders of the circus and many others who have been part of its history, Circus Rebels charts the challenges and triumphs of underdogs turned Welsh creative powerhouse.
]]>Flowers have long been revered as symbols of divine beauty, wisdom, and power, and this book shows you how to harness their magic in a practical way. Learn to attune to their vibrational energies to enhance your health, attract success, cultivate inner strength, and awaken your spiritual senses. With guidance on using flowers for aromatherapy, charms, rituals, potions, and alignment with higher forces, this guide opens a vibrant path to manifesting your most heartfelt desires.
The Magic of Flowers is an invitation to forge a living relationship with the plant kingdom's most ethereal messengers. Each flower becomes a teacher and ally, helping you tune in to the deeper rhythms of nature and your own soul. Let their gentle, radiant energy support your journey toward beauty, wholeness, and spiritual connection.
]]>Though we turn to it for answers and solutions, the true power of the tarot is as a mirror. With the right approach, it reflects the tapestry of our psyches, illuminating both conscious will and unconscious longing. It teaches us to befriend our shadows, evoke our imaginations, and attune to the soul's quiet directive: How am I meant to live?
With a tone that is both scholarly and soulful, Mariana Louis guides tarotists whether beginners or seasoned practitioners through the archetypal approach. Alongside archetypal interpretations of the cards, she grounds readers in the foundations of depth psychology, inner work techniques, and methods of reading. The following topics are also covered:
More than a manual for reading the cards, it is an initiation into their archetypal depth. Tarot and the Psychology of the Soul invites you to use the tarot as a living language of the psyche, helping you listen to your intuitive wisdom, embrace your wholeness, and awaken the answers waiting within.
]]>Hoodoo and conjure may be household words, but the popular magical craft practiced by tens of thousands of individuals has been grossly misrepresented in many modern practices. Traditional Hoodoo & Conjure seeks to reverse these misconceptions and provide practitioners with the history, mechanics, and tools to understand not only how but why each magical action serves a greater purpose.
Because Hoodoo derives its roots from African traditional religions that were initially brought toNorth America by enslaved people during the transatlantic era, many aspects of the craft parallel African-Caribbean practices, such as Santeria and Haitian Vodou. Miss Aida teaches readers how to honour their ancestors in a traditional manner and petition honoured entities. By offering magical baths, 25 traditional rituals, 125 spells, 50 recipes, and 40 prayers, readers will develop a deeper understanding of Hoodoo while becoming knowledgeable and formidable spellcasters.
]]>The Akasha is essentially the energetic field that contains everything every thought, action, emotion, memory, and experience. Imagine it as the universe's hard drive, where every bit of information is stored, not just from your life but also from the lives of everyone who has ever existed. It is available to all of us a universal field that reminds us of our inherent interconnectedness and our shared history as souls navigating the vast expanse of existence. In moments of stillness, the Akasha is here, in every breath you take and every moment you live.
Tapping into the Akasha delves deeply into the ancient modalities used by sages to show you how to access the Akasha. Along with practical exercises and techniques, including meditation, visualization, and energy work, Rohini Moradi guides you on a wonderous voyage of self-discovery:
Whether you're at the beginning of your journey or looking to deepen your connection with your inner wisdom, Tapping into the Akasha offers insight and clarity for all those seeking personal transformation, deeper self-understanding, and guidance.
]]>We spend our lives seeking improvement, peace, and purpose, operating from the core assumption that we are a separate self a thinker, a doer, a manager of our lives. But what if this 'self' is not what you truly are? What if the very search for a better 'you' is the root of all suffering?
Seeing No Self is not another self-help book promising a better life. It is a direct, unflinching guide to the end of seeking. Through 33 essential inquiries, author and guide Katrijn Van Oudheusden dismantles the illusion of the separate self layer by layer, pointing you back to what you have always been the boundless, aware Presence in which all of life unfolds.
This is a book of radical rediscovery. It offers no theories to believe, no practices to master, and no person to improve. Instead, it provides a clear, empirical investigation into your direct experience, inviting you to look for yourself and see what is already undeniably true.
Freedom is not something to achieve. It is what remains when you stop believing that you are the one who isn't free.
]]>Chris Niebauer earned his PhD in cognitive neuropsychology at the University of Toledo, specializing in the differences between the left and right sides of the human brain. He is the author of No Self, No Problem and The No Self, No Problem Workbook. Visit him at chrisniebauerphd.com.
]]>Alchemical Wisdom for the Modern Practitioner
Long mentioned but rarely explained, fluid condensers are a powerful yet elusive tool in occult and magical traditions. In Fluid Condensers, Aerik Arkadian demystifies this powerful practice, offering a thorough and accessible introduction suitable for both seasoned occultists and curious seekers.
Blending historical references, modern interpretations, and practical applications, Aerik provides clear explanations, step-by-step exercises, discussion prompts, and sample recipes for a variety of magical goals. Fluid Condensers becomes a hands-on manual for deepening personal power and refining spiritual technique.
Designed to serve practitioners of all paths, this work is not tied to any one tradition. Instead, it positions fluid condensers as a living expression of modern alchemy practical, empowering, and transformative. Whether you're looking to energize your magical practice, understand esoteric principles, or work more consciously with elemental forces, Fluid Condensers offers the tools and insight to do so.
]]>'As an artist I produce a visual journal for most of my works. The journal for After the Rain became my tool for communicating with artists, highlighting the immersive potential of the exhibition spaces, and encouraging artists to utilise these fully.
As the first artist-led Triennial, thinking and working differently was important. The journal was a visual medium to express ideas, and the publication grew from that, becoming a deeper exploration and reflection of the exhibition.'
Tony Albert, Girramay/Yidinji/Kuku-Yalanji peoples
After the Rain documents the creative processes of 10 contemporary art projects commissioned for the National Gallery of Australia's major recurrent exhibition dedicated to First Nations art and artists in Australia the National Indigenous Art Triennial.
Edited by the Triennial's Artistic Director Tony Albert and long-time collaborator Sally Brand, the publication shares stories of artistic collaborations, longstanding friendships and generational practices from Erub, the most north-eastern island in Zenadth Kes/Torres Strait, to Ntaria/Hermannsburg in Central Australia and Naarm/Narrm/Melbourne.
Alongside artist profiles, the publication includes commissioned essays addressing legacies, identities and climate change by contributing First Nations writers Bruce Johnson McLean, Jilda Andrews, Daniel Browning and Yessie Mosby. Original portraits of the exhibition's artists by the celebrated Western Aranda painter Vincent Namatjira punctuate a vibrantly illustrated publication.
The publication is accompanied by a pull-out map created by Tony Albert showcasing his travels across Australia to meet with artists and their communities.
After the Rain invites readers to engage with First Nations art and artists and acknowledge and celebrate the cultural warriors of the past, present and future.
]]>Albert is acknowledged industry wide as a valued ambassador for Indigenous community and culture. He was recently announced as the inaugural Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain First Nations Curatorial Fellow. He is the first Indigenous Trustee for the Art Gallery of New South Wales, a member of the Art Gallery of New South Wales Indigenous advisory, a board member forthe City of Sydney's Public Art Panel and member of the Art & Place Board at the Queensland Children's Hospital and in January 2023 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Griffith University for his significant contribution to the arts.
Sally Brand is Coordinator, National Indigenous Art Triennial at the National Gallery of Australia, a role that builds upon a long-standing professional relationship with Artistic Director Tony Albert.
]]>**Shortlisted, ABIAs 2026, Social Impact Book of the Year**
In The Power of Choice, award-winning photographer Julian Kingma turns his camera on those who choose assisted dying, and those who help them on their final journey. These intimate portraits, along with essays from Andrew Denton and Richard Flanagan, invite us to ask, perhaps for the first time, what makes a good death.
'Mute and frozen witnesses, we watched Death take this strong man my father and shake him out until he was nothing.'
Andrew Denton
'They choose voluntary assisted dying because they want a good death and not a bad death. Because, dying, they want an end to their suffering, not its indefinite continuation and worsening.'
Richard Flanagan
]]>www.juliankingma.com
]]>**Shortlisted, NSW Literary Awards 2026, Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction**
**Shortlisted, NSW Literary Awards 2026, Multicultural NSW Award**
**Shortlisted, NSW Literary Awards 2026, UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing**
**Longlisted, Stella Prize 2026**
'If we were different people, to write down these words might be to leave them behind us. But words are our artifacts, and I am seeding a trail for the journey, home.'
What does the daughter of a Nakba survivor inherit? It is not property or tangible heirlooms, nor the streets and neighbourhoods of a father's childhood and the deep roots of family who have lived in one place, Jerusalem, for generation upon generation.
Fixing her gaze on moments, places and objects from the streets of Bethlehem to the Palestinian neighbourhoods of the New Jerusalem Micaela Sahhar assembles a story of Palestinian diaspora. Find Me at the Jaffa Gate is a book about the gaps and blank spaces that cannot be easily recounted, but which insists on the vibrant reality of chance, fragments and memory to reclaim a place called home.
'Micaela Sahhar's Find Me at the Jaffa Gate is one of the most inventive, thought-provoking and captivating chronicles of Palestinian diasporic life I've had the pleasure of reading. It is a memoir written by a poet, poetry written by a novelist, literature written by an academic it is all these things at once, insisting with a gentle yet unwavering confidence in the power of its unique, brilliantly evocative and genre-defying voice. Sahhar's love for her family, homeland, the details and intimacies of everyday life; for language, history, archives, photographs and the treasured ephemera of a life in diaspora, shine through every line. The result is a book in which every word is deliberate, each line commands attention, each chapter is a world within a world.' Randa Abdel-Fattah, academic and writer, author of 11 Words for Love
'Micaela Sahhar's family history has everything that makes any Palestinian family history worth telling and reading about. On the one hand, a rich culture that ranges from distinctive culinary practices to a distinctive sense of humour, and on the other hand, a tragic settler-colonial history of dispossession and oppression leading to a transnational diasporic existence, and that makes for a characteristic sense of space and place. But this is not any book about Palestine. Sahhar is a superior storyteller with a knack for highlighting evocative details. Storytelling, like any craft, embodies in different degrees the labour of the many people who have told stories about one's subject matter in the past. The more a writer is well-read the more this shows in the historical density and the social complexity of their storytelling. Sahhar's book is definitely dense and socially complex in this way. This could make for 'heavy' reading if it wasn't for Sahhar's superior writing skills. Indeed, I would say that more than anything else, this is a book for people who enjoy good writing, regardless of what the story is about. But of course, it matters what this story is about. This is a book about Palestine and Palestinians, and in the way the book is grounded in both the Palestinian tragedy and the Palestinian unlimited capacity to affirm life, the spirit of anti-colonial resistance animates every one of its pages. Sahhar finishes the book saying that like Mahmoud Darwish's father she hopes that one day she will be able to go to Palestine, to the streets where her family originates from, and shout I am I. And I am here. But in a way, by writing this book, she already does that, if not from Palestine at least from the position she occupies within the transnational space of western colonialism.' Ghassan Hage, professor of anthropology at the University of Melbourne and author of The Diasporic Condition: Ethnographic Explorations of the Lebanese in the World
'Find Me at the Jaffa Gate is an aching and tender study of diaspora, grief, memory and history. Sahhar has a masterful voice, playing subtly with tense and form to give agency to a beautifully layered narrative, interwoven with fragments, records and intimate moments of lives permanently changed by Nakba. Find Me at the Jaffa Gate tells an unmissable story of Palestinian survival and resistance across space and time.' Evelyn Araluen, Bundjalung poet and author of Dropbear
'Sahhar chronicles the essential truths of Palestine with intricacy and finesse and in doing so, has crafted a mighty text that demands unbroken attention. Find Me at the Jaffa Gate is a book that will be read, re-read, dog-eared, underlined and recited.' Hasib Hourani, author of rock flight
'Find Me at the Jaffa Gate opens with a recollection of the five-year-old Micaela bobbing off to preparatory school with pigtails, glasses and missing teeth. As she enters the classroom, her sense of self is shattered in a nation that is home but not home, when a teacher butchers her family name and is visibly appalled when told the name is Palestinian. As the child of diaspora, born on the unceded lands of Australia, Micaela is ever conscious of the tension between being in exile on homelands now occupied; and living, working and writing on the occupied lands of Naarm in colonial Australia a site of invasion, and genocide. Find Me at the Jaffa Gate writes of and to dispossession, displacement, trauma, loss, resilience and is testimony to the power of intergenerational story and memory that survives, and lives on so that all those who remain, and their children and children's children remember. In this polyphonic narrative, we hear many voices some still living, others passed, now scattered across nations and continents, yet still connected through home Palestine.' Jeanine Leane, Wiradjuri writer, critic, poet and author of Gawimarra: Gathering
'At a time when Israel is literally trying to wipe Palestinians off the map, this book lands with a powerful thud of fury, beauty and resistance. Weaving personal stories with history in all its unvarnished details, Micaela Sahhar delivers a deeply affecting story that articulates one of the great outrages of our time.' Antony Loewenstein, independent journalist, film-maker and author of The Palestine Laboratory
'Find me at the Jaffa Gate is more than a lyrical memoir that binds personal storytelling with global history; Sahhar has built an archive for future generations. Readers interested in tales of migration and ancestral history will find a treasure trove in Sahhar's emotive and detailed offering.' Hellai Gul, Books+Publishing
'Find Me at the Jaffa Gate has been one of my favourite books of the year.' Alex Creece, author of Potty Mouth, Potty Mouth and Online Editor at Archer
'Find Me at the Jaffa Gate is a story that traverses time and place, love and hate; it's a story of ongoing and unforgettable Palestinian survival.' Readings
'[Through] beautiful prose, Sahhar pulls together a story, full of gaps and questions, about her Palestinian family, their memories and their connection to home.' Celina Ribeiro, Guardian Australia
'This is a book that is about more than displacement it's about resilience, truth-telling and the fragments of stories that are often forgotten but which form the bones and heart of what it means to Palestinian diaspora.' Soaliha Iqbal, Missing Perspectives
'Author and poet Micaela Sahhar's lyrical story of generations of Palestinian diaspora is as timely as ever.' Cheryl Akle, The Weekend Australian
'Sahhar not only reconstitutes an archive of her own family's past, she creates a new archive for the generations that follow.' This Week in Palestine
'Through the lens of her family's history Sahhar successfully immerses the reader in the big history and culture of Palestine, and the experience of being Palestinian.' Rowan Cahill, Journal of Intercultural Studies
'One knows that Find Me at the Jaffa Gate has been percolating for a long time when they read it. Within 48 short chapters, Micaela Sahhar pieces fragments of memory, speculation, and archival research to tell a story of both the construction of her selfhood and Palestinian family: 'not a story about wounds but about the preservation of something all its own'. It is a book full of brilliances even as occupation and exile cause history and geography to cut loose and spin around each other and as Sahhar herself asks, 'What does it mean to be exiled and how do we take our revenge?' Find Me at the Jaffa Gate is a gift, a remarkable debut memoir that is simultaneously a work of poetry in its lyricism and feeling; humour, anger, warmth, grief and love eddy in a whirlpool to form a work about sumud and survival.' VPLA judges' report
'No book is as essential for these past two years as Micaela Sahhar's Find Me at the Jaffa Gate.' Winnie Dunn, Sydney Morning Herald
'Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An encyclopaedia of a Palestinian family is a deeply moving, confronting and life-affirming book. Innovative and poetic, it is both a political testimony and a nuanced tribute to a family displaced and torn apart by the Nakba. Micaela Sahhar writes with fierce intelligence and heart, forging a work of complex feeling, memory and exploration, a particularly notable achievement given that this is Sahhar's first book.' Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction Judges' comments
'Micaela Sahhar's debut, Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An encyclopaedia of a Palestinian family, harnesses evocative storytelling to tell the reader about the Palestinian diaspora in Australia and Sahhar's memories of her roots and heritage. As much as it is a Palestinian tragedy of colonisation and dispossession, the book is also an affirmation of the spirit that survives and lives on.' Multicultural NSW Award Judges' comments
]]>Her extraordinary work in documenting and preserving traditional Gaelic songs and customs remains a vital resource for understanding Hebridean music, and the Campbells' house on Canna is a unique collection of priceless material celebrating the Hebridean world. This vast archive also includes Margarets collection of still and film photography, which capture the essence of island life at a time when old traditions were vanishing.
This book celebrates the legacy and life of a remarkable woman, who herself wrote with such wit and flair of her travels and adventures and which took her from turn of-the-century Pennsylvania to 1920s New York, Paris, Nova Scotia and the Hebrides, where she lived until her death in 2004.
]]>These lively essays by luminary writers offer a queer perspective on how people experience other cultures and how other cultures receive queer people. This anthology of essays includes the perspectives of gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, and trans American authors from multiple ethnic identities, showcasing the travel writing of both established and emerging authors across a wide age spectrum to address these central questions.Contributors include Alexander Chee, Edmund White, Daisy Hernndez, Putsata Reang, Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, Denne Michele Norris, Garrard Conley, Andrew Ellis Evans, Nicole Shawan Junior, Raluca Albu, KB Brookins, Genevieve Hudson, Zoe Sprankle, Sara Orozco, and Calvin Gimpelevich. Their essays take the reader to different areas of the world including Spain, Ukraine, Florida, New York City, Mexico, Cambodia, Russia, Senegal, Berlin, and more.
]]>Finalist for the Leslie Feinberg Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature
'A breathtaking archive of our community...An absolute vital work for a precipitous time.' Lilly Wachowski, co-director of The Matrix
'Searing, witty, critical and defiant' Xtra
In 1993, Mirha Soleil-Ross and Xanthra Phillippa MacKay, fed up with a gay scene that rejected trans people and a trans scene that saw no alternative to going 'stealth', began to publish the zine Gendertrash From Hell. Over four issues, they interviewed sex workers and prisoners; they printed collages, soap operas and polemics; they ran regular sections with titles like 'Trannies Speak Out' and 'Hooker of the Month'. They redefined transsexual culture forever, and their explosive ideas resonate deeply today.
Remastered from the original layouts, this foundational work is now available in book form for the first time, including previously-unseen drafts from the unfinished fifth issue and essays by Trish Salah and Leah Tigers. Irreverent, furious, reckless, sexy, hilarious and incisive, Gendertrash from Hell is here to set all your presuppositions on fire.
]]>Food has long played an important role in queer culture. Lesbian- and queer women-run feminist restaurants, cafes, and coffeehouses have been safe spaces for queer and trans folk where gender norms can be challenged and where female authority is legitimised. During the AIDS epidemic, gay men and their allies centered food as an expression of collective care for those who needed it most. And queer and trans folk have asserted themselves in a restaurant culture largely controlled by white cisgender men.
Queers at the Table celebrates the various intersections between queers and food. In its essays, comics, and recipes, the book shows how queer food fosters connections, defies norms, honours legacies, and creates community. Taylor Hartson and Tristian Lee write about a queer farming community in which queerness is part of a broad network of living things to be enjoyed and shared; Danielle Kydd writes about food security issues as faced by LGBTQ2S+ folk; and Blue Delliquanti's comic on urban foraging in Minneapolis demonstrates the role of a queer friend group in a local ecosystem.
In full colour throughout, Queers at the Table is a diverse and enriching anthology that reveals the myriad nurturing ways that queerness informs food production and restaurant culture and how food empowers, transforms, and unites queer and trans folk.
]]>Megan J. Elias (they/them) is director of the Food Studies Program at Boston University and an associate professor. They are the author of five books about food history, including Food on the Page: Cookbooks and American Culture (University of Pennsylvania Press). Elias teaches courses in food history and food and gender and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
]]>Australian slang unites the true blue and the dinky-di and separates the cheeky little possums from the happy little Vegemites. In this attractive new pictorial guide, readers will learn to distinguish their drongos from their dropkicks and discover where our unique vernacular comes from.
Discover the connection between bludgers and pimps, drongos and a winless horse. Aussie slang tells us much about our history; in this book are words that have evolved from Indigenous languages, the dialects of the British Isles and the names, catchphrases and peccadillos of Australian celebrities.
Alongside the fascinating etymological information are striking images from the National Library's vast Pictures Collection - used to great humorous effect in illustrating the slang words and phrases-and commentaries by H.G. Nelson, the man who, together with Rampaging Roy Slaven, brought the world the 'battered sav', the 'hullo boys' and the 'spinning date', all gymnastics moves that need little further explanation.
A mix of traditional and modern slang, in a fresh design, this guide will educate and entertain readers, and tickle their funny bones.
]]>H.G. Nelson and colleague Roy Slaven presented This Sporting Life on Triple J for 22 years. Every weekend, this dynamic duo - who could score from anywhere on the paddock - blasted their way through the big issues of sport. H.G. Nelson is a man who is dedicated to balls and the pursuit thereof. He would be mortified if he was unable to take his place in an Ashes-bound first eleven or run on in a Grannie due to a lack of fitness. Along the way, as time and his strict training regime have permitted, H.G. Nelson has put on the guernsey for other television projects, including The Project, It's a Knockout, Club Buggery, The Channel Nine Show, The Monday Dump, Roy & HG's Spring Carnival, The Cream and The Memphis Trousers.
]]>Harold Cazneaux (1878-1953) is widely considered the greatest Australian photographer of the early twentieth century. In portraiture, architectural and industrial photography, landscapes and documentary work, he showed versatility, great imagination and technical mastery, and inspired the next generation of Australian photographers. In 1978, Max Dupain penned a thoughtful appreciation of 'Caz' and selected the images reproduced in this new edition.
The Cazneaux collection at the National Library comprises 272 exhibition prints, 200 working photographs and about 4,300 glass negatives, dating from roughly 1904 to 1940.
The Artists of the National Library of Australia series showcases the Library's extensive Pictures Collection.
]]>Ellis Rowan (1848-1922) was a painter, naturalist, writer and explorer. For almost 50 years, she travelled to remote parts of Australia, India, Europe, America and New Guinea in pursuit of exotic flowers and wildlife to paint. One of Australia's most-loved botanical artists, she was a woman who made her mark at a time when scientific illustration was a male domain.
The Ellis Rowan collection at the National Library of Australia comprises 919 watercolours and gouaches painted between about 1870 and 1920. This represents less than one third of Rowan's total output. The Artists of the National Library of Australia series showcases the Library's extensive Pictures Collection.
]]>Sievers' images celebrate the excitement of the modern machine age. The photographer documented the height of Australian industry, recording places such as textile mills, match factories, oil refineries and treatment plants many of them long since gone. In these places, Sievers found unexpected beauty and virtue, forming an invaluable record of Australia's industrial past, history, culture and the form of photography.
The images in this book are selected from those curated by Ennis in the 2011 edition, republished in a new and affordable format.
The Wolfgang Sievers Photographic Archive consists of about 13,700 prints and 51,700 negatives and transparencies, making it one of the largest photographic collections held in the National Library of Australia.
]]>Each photograph is accompanied by Olive Cotton's own commentary where she speaks about her compositions. Helen Ennis's introduction reveals some of the complex factors that have shaped Cotton's photographs and photographic career, while a biographical memoir written by Cotton's daughter, Sally McInerney, provides a personal glimpse into the life of a photographer in country Australia.
Olive Cotton reproduces the 1995 edition in a new and affordable format, and is a beautifully produced survey of Olive Cotton's finest photographs dating from the 1930s up to the late 1990s.
The Olive Cotton collection at the National Library comprises 58 photographic prints, most of which are silver gelatin, three interviews with Olive Cotton in the oral history collection, and the Papers of Olive Cotton in the manuscripts collection.
]]>The first comprehensive cookbook to fully cover all aspects of Japanese cuisine with 600 recipes!
This book has been a lifetime in the making. Bicultural author Makiko Itoh was born in Tokyo and grew up in New York, where her mother ran the leading Japanese restaurant for two decades. She has since developed a career as a successful bilingual food writer and translator, uniquely positioned to explain the cuisine to non-Japanese.
Her book answers all the questions foreigners typically have about one of the world's greatest cuisines, including:
Itoh's mission is to demystify Japanese cuisine for non-Japanese. Her book contains 400 beautiful colour photos with clearly-presented recipes interspersed with fascinating essays and sidebars explaining all aspects of Japan's unique food culture. A must-read book for every Japanese food lover!
]]>In this striking, highly personal volume, acclaimed cookbook author Nancy Singleton Hachisu introduces readers to the regional chefs and artisans at the heart of Japan's unique food culture. Bringing to bear more than three decades of life in the Japanese countryside and over a decade as a food writer and champion of artisanal Japanese food traditions, she offers unique recipes, spectacular photographs and insightful essays about chefs and producers across Japan.
The 140 recipes created by seven remarkable Japanese chefs use local, seasonal ingredients to deliver intense, sophisticated flavours in an approachable way. Each of these Franco-Japanese, Italianate-Japanese and classic, yet modern Japanese dishes have been meticulously tested in the author's home kitchen. Readers will find here:
Hachisu's passion for food traditions is shared by the chefs and artisans making this book an inspiration for anyone who appreciates food on a deeply personal level. Yet it is also a cookbook to be splashed on, marked up, and used to reproduce the very best that Japanese cuisine has to offer in their own kitchens.
]]>Alice Waters is a chef, author, food activist, and the founder and owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California.
]]>Sushi has taken the world by storm. Now, brilliant young Tokyo-based sushi chef Jun Takahashi wants to share his love and scientific knowledge of sushi-making with the world! His mastery of all things sushi is unparalleled and will appeal to professional chefs and sushi amateurs alike.
With the help of gorgeous colour photos and informative charts and diagrams, Takahashi and his two co-authors, Hidemi Sato and Mitose Tsuchida, cover the full range of sushi-making topics from the biology and scientific composition of the ingredients, to the techniques sushi chefs learn over years of difficult training, to basic recipes for Tokyo-style sushi rice, sauces, condiments, and side dishes. The book's sections include lessons on how to:
Whether you're a professional chef, a casual lover of Japanese cuisine, or a sushi fanatic, this beautiful book will provide fascinating insights into the world of Japan's iconic national dish.
'Though only 30 years old, Jun Takahashi is already a phenomenon. He trained at Kanesaka and Saito, and his otsumami small plates are stunning and creative.' Conde Nast Traveler
]]>With the help of over 400 gorgeous colour photos and informative charts and diagrams, Nakagawa and his two co-authors, Hidemi Sato and Mitose Tsuchida present the full range of tempura recipes and techniques - from the best ingredients to use to making the perfect tempura batter and how to fry each ingredient to perfection, as well as how to present your finished tempura as part of an elegant Japanese meal.
This book provides a uniquely detailed look at the art of Japanese tempura, with sections on:
Detailed diagrams and charts illustrate everything from the ways seafood changes when fried, to the importance of carefully controlling the temperature of frying oil. Whether you're a professional chef, a lover of Japanese cuisine, or an avid tempura fan, this beautiful book will provide fascinating insights into the world of Japan's iconic national dish.
]]>Hidemi Sato is a trained dietician and holds a doctorate in food science. After graduating from Yokohama International University, she worked in the culinary equipment industry for nine years. She then completed her Masters and Ph.D. at Ochanomizu University. She has written several books on the topic of food science.
Mitose Tsuchida graduated from Hiroshima University before receiving her doctorate from Ochanomizu University. She worked as an editor at the Japanese food magazines Speciality Cooking and Culinary Kingdom before becoming a freelancer. She writes and edits books and features on a wide variety of food subjects.
]]>Whether you're a sake novice or an experienced connoisseur, Exploring the World of Japanese Craft Sake offers fascinating insights, practical tips, and rich stories about this popular beverage.
Authors and experts Nancy Matsumoto and Michael Tremblay personally undertook the challenge of visiting 33 artisanal sake breweries in Japan, the US, and Canada to interview makers and document every stage of the sake brewing process. Nancy's celebrated journalistic background combined with Michael's sake sommelier experience have led to an engaging and informative look at the world of sake.
With over 300 colour photos and a lively narrative, this fascinating book provides:
This book also includes personal recipes from several top Japanese brew masters along with food-pairing tips and the authors' own personal recommendations for the best sake bars in Japan and overseas!
]]>Onigiri rice and miso soup are Japan's answer to the classic soup and sandwich combo but a whole lot healthier!
In these 100 amazing recipes, nutritionist Megumi Fujii combines fresh seasonal ingredients with traditional Japanese superfoods to create deeply nourishing meals the perfect antidote to modern ultra-processed foods.
In this book, you'll find 48 delicious and easy-to-prepare meals like:
Filled with beautiful photographs, the book showcases the limitless possibilities of two classic Japanese homestyle dishes. Fujii highlights the nutritional benefits of the ingredients in each recipe and introduces to all sorts of ways to use healthy Japanese superfoods like seaweed and miso that are now available everywhere.
]]>All the recipes use easy-to-find ingredients and simple, step-by-step instructions you can follow at home. Each dish is beautifully photographed in full color to inspire your cooking!
]]>Takashi Fujii is an Okayama-based illustrator who founded the food blog OKAYAMAGOGO in 2007, which highlights the delicious specialties of his home region. He illustrates travel guides and works with editors and publishers around the world.
]]>Japanese Cooking with Kids is the perfect way for you and your kids to learn about Japanese cooking while having fun in the kitchen and to get them excited about eating healthy meals. Some of these dishes may even become their new favourites!
These 50 kid-tested recipes for ages 8 to 14 get 'two thumbs up' and empty plates every time. They include:
Each chapter in this book contains a fun, hands-on activity like counting to ten in Japanese while washing your hands, growing your own green onions or making your own chopstick rests! In addition to preparing delicious Japanese recipes, kids will learn the basic principles of Japanese cuisine eating foods that are in season, and only eating until you feel 80% full to help you live a healthier life.
Japanese Cooking with Kids will give you and your family a whole new perspective on food and eating the Japanese way!
]]>Mayumi Uejima-Carr became the president of TABLE FOR TWO USA following work with Accenture and Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company and earning an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. With TABLE FOR TWO USA, she has developed a program to provide healthier school meals for children in the U.S. She was a delegate to the US-Japan Leadership Program (2017-18).
Yumi Komatsudaira is a recipe developer, food stylist, culinary instructor and President of K-Seaweed a leading ocean greens provider. She is the author of Japanese Superfoods.
]]>Miso is produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and koji yeast. Not only is it packed with nutrition and gut-friendly probiotics supporting immunity, digestion, anti-aging and recovery from fatigue it enhances the flavor of any dish you add it to. Use it in miso soups, Japanese and Western-style meals, even snacks and desserts. It boosts umami, tenderises meats and brings a new level of deliciousness to your cooking!
In this beautifully illustrated book, Japanese fermentation expert and cookbook author Misa Enomoto shares her passion for miso a staple in Japanese kitchens for centuries.
She presents 87 delicious recipes based around this incredibly versatile ingredient, including:
Enomoto also shows you how to make your own overnight miso at home along with other popular Japanese fermented seasonings like shio koji. These simple, economical recipes will transform your cooking and improve your health in the process!
]]>**2020 Gourmand Cookbook Award Winner for Japan in Fermentation**
Japanese pickles are often made the day they are eaten as delicious side dishes, snacks and garnishes. Whether you have your own vegetable garden and want new ways to preserve your bounty into the winter, or are just looking for healthy and tasty additions to your everyday meals, these home-made Japanese superfood recipes are a great addition to your repertoire.
A chapter on regional pickling styles and recipes lets home cooks learn more about the traditional art of tsukemono in Japan from Tokyo to rural farm villages whilea section on pickling seasonal vegetables helps you make the most of your garden-fresh produce.
'Pickled vegetables were my favourite component of most meals we ate in Tokyo. Japanese Pickled Vegetables by Machiko Tateno has a clean layout and glossy photos that sing 'You can do this.' I longed for the bright zinging taste of vivid carrot chunks, startling daikon slices, sweet-and-sour green cucumber ribbons, but muttered 'too many hard-to-get ingredients kombu seaweed?' Later, while staring down another bowl of pandemic ramen, I took the plunge. Raiding the pantry and fridge, I was able to make fresh cucumber pickles, quick carrot, radish, napa cabbage pickles and kimchi.'Shelf Awareness
'...Tateno keeps this guide basic and simple...Current interest in fermenting and pickling make this a perfect addition to any cookery collection.'Booklist
'Japanese Pickled Vegetables is a well-written cookbook that's appropriate for both beginner and advanced cooks who'd like to have a collection of Japanese-style pickled produce. It's a wonderful resource especially for those who have their own vegetable garden during the warmer seasons and want to preserve their bounty for the winter.' Today's Dietitian
]]>Ever wish you could create delicious ramen at home that tastes like it came straight from a professional noodle bar in Tokyo or Osaka? This new book by Japanese ramen chef Shigekazu Takanashi shows you how using easy-to-find ingredients, flavour-enhancing secrets and time-saving shortcuts!
His book contains 50 delicious recipes including:
Takanashi's easy tricks to achieve maximum flavor in minimum time have won him a loyal social media following. This book is a must-have for ramen aficionados who love to eat authentic Japanese ramen at home but don't want to spend the whole day in the kitchen!
]]>Makiko Itoh, author of the Just Bento cookbook series and Real Japanese Cooking, has translated many Japanese works into English including Zen Wisdom for the Anxious, and Real Japanese Izakaya Cookbook. She now writes a monthly column on Japanese food for the Japan Times and her new compendium work, Real Japanese Cooking has just been published by Tuttle Publishing.
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