Search results for ""author art, culture"

AUTOMATED VEHICLES AND MaaS A topical overview of the issues facing automated driving systems and Mobility as a Service, identifies the obstacles to implementation and offers potential solutionsAdvances in cooperative and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies, cultural and socio-economic shifts, measures to combat climate change, social pressures to reduce road deaths and injuries, and changing attitudes toward self-driving cars, are creating new and exciting mobility scenarios worldwide. However, many obstacles remain and are compounded by the consequences of COVID-19. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) integrates various forms of public and private transport services into a single on-demand mobility service. Combining trains, cars, buses, bicycles, and other forms of transport, MaaS promises a convenient, cost-effective, and eco-friendly alternative to private automobiles.Automated Vehicles and MaaS: Removing the Barriers is an up-to-date overview of the contemporary challenges facing CAVs and MaaS. Written in a clear and accessible style, this timely volume summarizes recent research studies, describes the evolution of automated driving systems and MaaS, identifies the barriers to their widespread adoption, and proposes potential solutions to overcome and remove these barriers. The text focuses on the claims, realities, politics, new organizational roles, and implementation problems associated with CAVs and MaaS—providing industry professionals, policymakers, planners, administrators, and investors with a clear understanding of the issues facing the introduction of automated driving systems and MaaS. This important guide and reference: Provides an overview of recent progress, the current state of the art, and discussion of future objectives Presents both technical background and general overview of automated driving systems and MaaS Covers political, commercial, and practical issues, as well as technical and research content, yet suitable for non-specialists Helps readers make informed decisions and realistic estimates for implementing mobility solutions and new business models for transport services Includes an extensive bibliography with direct links to in-depth technical engineering and research information Automated Vehicles and MaaS: Removing the Barriers is an essential resource for transport providers, vehicle manufacturers, urban and transport planners, students of transportation, vehicle technology, and urban planning, and transport policy and strategy managers, advisors, and reviewers.

Read more less

REVISED 2023 Streetwise London Map is a laminated city center map of London, England. The accordion-fold pocket size travel map includes a London Underground map with tube lines & stations. Cover includes: Main London City Map 1:20,000 London Underground Map - London Tube Map Dimensions: 4" x 8.5" folded, 8.5" x unfolded London is one of the most popular, populated and accessible cites on earth. People love London. And why not? Londoners are charming and helpful, and their city operates on such a high dosage of civility that it could be considered an art form. London is an urban oasis where you can search out cutting edge design, cuisine, fashion, chic neighborhoods, or traditional culture. When visiting London, be prepared to walk. Whether its basic window shopping, advanced people watching, or the rewarding task of locating restaurants and museums, London is urban roaming at its best. Days can be spent just visiting London's neighborhoods, each with its own character, atmosphere and unique offerings. The STREETWISE® Map of London UK will enable you to go anywhere in central London. The detailed and indexed depiction of streets, tube stations, sites and hotels will enable you to spend more time making new urban discoveries than less time complaining about disorientation. Say you choose Mayfair, for its refined and cultured demeanor. Take an afternoon stroll wandering through Berkeley Square, Grovesnor Square and Green Park then finish with an espresso at Rochaux’s cafe. You’ll briefly feel exclusive. Wander the back alleys in Soho and you will never know what or who you’ll run across. The very trendy Covent Garden is dense with human interaction packed into a small area. Walk up to Bloomsbury with its literary heritage to be amazed by the vast holdings within the British Museum. The original city of London is the square mile of the city center, now the financial center as well. Immerse yourself in history and architecture with its many fantastic buildings beginning with St Paul’s Cathedral on the western edge and ending at the Tower of London to the eastside. Hike over the Thames on the Tower Bridge to see the Design Museum and the HMS Belfast. You are now on the South Bank dominated by Waterloo Station and its surrounding shopping and dining area. The London Eye will provide an interesting overhead perspective of greater London. Come back to earth and walk the Thames along Queen’s walk pedestrian path and you'll be rewarded upon finding Gabriel’s Wharf, the Tate Modern, the famous wobbly Millennium Bridge and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Walk South through Hyde Park and you encounter Knightsbridge. It is one of London’s most fashionable neighborhoods, the home of Harrod’s (the Vatican of department stores) and Beauchamp Place, one of London’s most fashionable shopping streets. If shopping is not on the agenda, there are museums like the Victoria & Albert, the Science Museum, and the Natural History Museum. South of Knightsbridge is Belgravia. This area has long been the aristocratic section of London, rivaling Mayfair in grandeur and tranquility. Our London street map is fully indexed with streets, concert halls, hotels, museums and galleries, parks, points of interest, shopping areas and transportation terminals. A separate inset map of the London Underground, the Tube, is also included to facilitate your travel around the city. Our pocket size map of London is laminated for durability and accordion folding for effortless use. To enhance your visit to London, pick up a Michelin Green Guide London which details star-rated sites and attractions to allow you to prioritize your trip based on time and interest. In addition, for a selection of the best restaurants and hotels, try the MICHELIN Guide London. For driving or to plan your trip to and from London, use the Michelin Great Britain & Ireland Road and Tourist Map No. 713.

Read more less

Packed with more than 1,200 incredible images you can discover the world’s most precious and fascinating objects, from rocks and gems to fossils and shells.Earth's extraordinary minerals, gems, shells, and fossils are all on dazzling display in this essential visual encyclopedia for children. The Rock and Gem Book is an indispensable guide to the natural world’s most remarkable treasures the book shows each rock, mineral, fossil, and shell in its natural form, as well as a wide range of everyday and unexpected objects in which they can be found Feast your eyes on the ultimate treasure trove that any pirate would envy!This genius geology book for kids has over 1200 stunning photographs that showcase rocks and gems in glorious detail, ensuring you can recognize sedimentary from sandstone, metamorphic from marble, and pyrite from pearl. The unique qualities of each eye-catching material are described in-depth, together with their broad range of uses in art, industry, architecture, and science. Treasure seekers, get set to start your own collection with this engaging encyclopedia for children aged 9-12. Celebrate your child's curiosity as they explore:- Striking and detailed diagrams, drawings and illustrations on every page - A highly visual approach to learning - An ideal combination of colorful diagrams with infographic text boxes- CGI reconstructions show whole animals to help understand fossil fragments.- In association with The Smithsonian InstitutionKeep your eyes open for rainbow rocks, fluorescent minerals, priceless diamonds, and meteor showers on your geological journey of discovery. Meet dinosaurs in the prehistoric period to understand how fossils form, join the pyramid builders of ancient Egypt to investigate the limestone bricks and take a dip in the ocean on the hunt for clams, cowries, and cockles.This captivating kids encyclopedia also includes at-a-glance panels that provide a quick reference to all the stats, with easy-to-read accessible text for readers aged 9-12, yet can be enjoyed by the entire family, making this enthralling children’s encyclopedia a beautiful and educational gift that can be passed down generations.Learn all about the world one picture at a time!If you like Rock and Gem Book, then why not complete the collection? Part of the highly visual Our World In Pictures series, avid readers can dive into the world of dinosaurs with The Dinosaur Book, become a vehicle virtuoso with Cars, Trains, Ships and Planes and venture on a journey across the globe with Countries, Cultures, People & Places.

Read more less

Discover how to explore Europe sustainably with this ultimate collection of 80 no-fly itineraries. Featuring trips that range from a weekend to a month, we show you how to avoid chaotic airports and reduce the carbon footprint of your travel with detailed route maps and transport connection information for trains, buses, ferries and more.Embark on a Norwegian rail odyssey; island-hop across Croatia by ferry; hike into the wild heartland of Scotland; or combine wine, surf and easy-going cycling along France’s Atlantic Coast. Each itinerary is plotted step-by-step on a map with the transport logistics of how to get to the next destination along with details of the duration between each stop. Whether you’re looking for a city escape, to explore natural wonders or indulge in delicious eating and drinking experiences, there’s expert recommendations for all interests about day trips to take along the way.Inside Flight-Free Europe: - 80 no-fly itineraries each of which features suggested ways to get to the start of the route, comprehensive transport connection guidance, vibrant photography, a map and fact box which details the trip’s carbon count, suggested duration and transport budget - Recommended forms of transport include train, bus, ferry, bicycle and electric/hybrid car- Activity themes for each trip are indicated by icons and encompass food and drink; wellness and relaxation; sights and history; adventure; arts and culture; and nature- Covers Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Hercegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Morocco, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, WalesIf you’re motivated to travel more sustainably while still enjoying the best experiences that Europe has to offer, this book will show you how to discover Europe’s edges and everywhere in between via more climate-friendly forms of travel.About Lonely PlanetLonely Planet, a Red Ventures Company, is the world's number one travel guidebook brand. Providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973, Lonely Planet reaches hundreds of millions of travellers each year online and in print and helps them unlock amazing experiences. Visit us at lonelyplanet.com and join our community of followers on Facebook (facebook.com/lonelyplanet), Twitter (@lonelyplanet), Instagram (instagram.com/lonelyplanet), and TikTok (@lonelyplanet).'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' – Fairfax Media (Australia)

Read more less

"[A] fascinating and indispensable book."—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles TimesBest Books of 2018—The Guardian Gold Medal for Contribution to Publishing, 2019 California Book Awards Carleton Watkins (1829–1916) is widely considered the greatest American photographer of the nineteenth century and arguably the most influential artist of his era. He is best known for his pictures of Yosemite Valley and the nearby Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias. Watkins made his first trip to Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove in 1861 just as the Civil War was beginning. His photographs of Yosemite were exhibited in New York for the first time in 1862, as news of the Union’s disastrous defeat at Fredericksburg was landing in newspapers and while the Matthew Brady Studio’s horrific photographs of Antietam were on view. Watkins’s work tied the West to Northern cultural traditions and played a key role in pledging the once-wavering West to Union. Motivated by Watkins’s pictures, Congress would pass legislation, signed by Abraham Lincoln, that preserved Yosemite as the prototypical “national park,” the first such act of landscape preservation in the world. Carleton Watkins: Making the West American includes the first history of the birth of the national park concept since pioneering environmental historian Hans Huth’s landmark 1948 “Yosemite: The Story of an Idea.” Watkins’s photographs helped shape America’s idea of the West, and helped make the West a full participant in the nation. His pictures of California, Oregon, and Nevada, as well as modern-day Washington, Utah, and Arizona, not only introduced entire landscapes to America but were important to the development of American business, finance, agriculture, government policy, and science. Watkins’s clients, customers, and friends were a veritable “who’s who” of America’s Gilded Age, and his connections with notable figures such as Collis P. Huntington, John and Jessie Benton Frémont, Eadweard Muybridge, Frederick Billings, John Muir, Albert Bierstadt, and Asa Gray reveal how the Gilded Age helped make today’s America. Drawing on recent scholarship and fresh archival discoveries, Tyler Green reveals how an artist didn’t just reflect his time, but acted as an agent of influence. This telling of Watkins’s story will fascinate anyone interested in American history; the West; and how art and artists impacted the development of American ideas, industry, landscape, conservation, and politics.

Read more less

Loos with incredible views, lavish lavatories, outstanding outhouses - all are featured in this pictorial guide to the world's most stunning toilets. Whether they're high-tech or arty, amusing or amazing, each toilet has a photo and a description of its location. More than 100 restrooms to remember are featured, from Antarctica to Zambia. As any experienced traveller knows, you can tell a whole lot about a place by its bathrooms. Whatever you prefer to call them - lavatory, loo, bog, khasi, thunderbox, dunny, bathroom, restroom, washroom or water closet - toilets are a (sometimes opaque, often wide-open) window into the secret soul of a destination. It's not just how well they're looked after that's revealing, but where they are positioned and the way they've been conceptualised, designed and decorated. Toilets so often transcend their primary function of being a convenience to become a work of art in their own right, or to make a cultural statement about the priorities, traditions and values of the venues, locations and communities they serve. The lavatory is a great leveller - everyone feels the call of nature, every day - but being ubiquitous doesn't make it uniform. Around the planet (and beyond it, see page 12), toilets have followed various evolutionary pathways to best suit their environment. In these pages you'll find porcelain pews with fantastic views, audacious attention-seeking urban outhouses, and eco-thrones made from sticks and stones in all sorts of wild settings, from precipitous mountain peaks to dusty deserts. So, wherever you're reading this, we hope you're sitting comfortably. About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in. TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

Read more less

When Marvel publisher Martin Goodman asked Stan Lee to deliver another new team book for his line of comics, he had no idea he’d be getting something like The X-Men. In fact, nobody could have imagined the extraordinary phenomenon the X-Men would eventually grow into—not Goodman, not Lee, not even the forward-thinking futurist Jack Kirby. What they started out as was a charming, ragtag team of misfits, devised by Lee and Kirby to be mutants—youngsters born with “X-tra” powers thrust upon them not by accidentally crossing paths with cosmic rays or a nuclear blast, but by the fate of birth—led by a no-nonsense professor who trained them to become heroes that could protect the world from menaces, mutant and otherwise.The first years of storytelling laid the foundation for much of what has put the X-Men at the crossroads of comics and popular culture: Hounded by a public that fears and misunderstands them, mutantkind find themselves at the heart of their own civil rights struggle; Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Beast, and Iceman found safety amongst themselves despite the challenges that set them apart from others in society; and Professor Xavier lined up against his ideological foe, Magneto, who had assembled a Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to take the fight for their self-preservation directly to humankind.Along the way, Lee and Kirby—who were on fire taking comics into the Marvel Age—introduced a menagerie of villains and supporting characters that would become mainstays of Marvel and its lore: the super-powered siblings Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch; the formidable Blob; the unstoppable Juggernaut; the jungle dweller from the Savage Land, Ka-Zar; the demigod from the stars, the Stranger; and Bolivar Trask and his army of mutant-hunting Sentinels. And as Lee and Kirby gave way to new talents so they could move on to new corners of the Marvel Universe, Atlas era art veteran Werner Roth teamed with writing newcomer and future X-Men legend Roy Thomas to begin their long run on the title.Close in size to the original artworks, this XXL-sized edition features the first 21 stories of our favorite oddball super heroes from 1963–1966. The most pristine pedigreed comics have been cracked open and photographed for reproduction in close collaboration with Marvel and the Certified Guaranty Company. Each page has been photographed as printed more than half a century ago, then digitally remastered using modern retouching techniques to correct problems with the era’s inexpensive, imperfect printing—as if hot off of a world-class 1960s printing press. A custom paper stock was exclusively developed for this series to simulate the feel of the original comics.In addition to these seminal tales are an original foreword by modern X-Men mastermind Chris Claremont, reliving the heyday of Lee and Kirby’s foundational years, and an in-depth essay by X-Men writer Fabian Nicieza alongside original art, photographs, and memorabilia from the early years of X.Also available in a Collector’s Edition of 1,000 numbered copies© 2023 MARVEL

Read more less

Maya longs to see her grandmother, but when Grandma arrives from far away for a visit, she is not quite what Maya expected.When Maya’s grandma makes a surprise visit from thousands of miles away, Maya is delighted. But her excitement doesn’t last long. When Grandma picks her up from school, she wears fancy clothes and talks too loudly. Grandma’s morning prayer bells wake Maya up, and she cooks with ingredients Maya doesn’t usually eat. Plus, Maya thinks cupcakes taste better than Grandma’s homemade sweets. Maya and Grandma try to compromise, and on a special trip to the island Grandma even wears an “all-American” baseball cap. But when Maya rushes off to find the carousel, she loses sight of her mother, father and grandmother. She is alone in a sea of people … until she spots something bobbing above the crowd, and right away she knows how to find her way. Saumiya Balasubramaniam’s story is an insightful and endearing portrayal of a grandparent-grandchild relationship that is evolving and deeply loving, as Maya and Grandma navigate cross-cultural contexts and generational differences. Qin Leng’s sweet, evocative illustrations complement the story and illuminate Grandma and Maya’s growing closeness.Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.6Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.9Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.6Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.

Read more less

The stunning biographical portraits in Modern Girls, Shining Stars, the Skies of Tokyo, some adapted from essays that first appeared in The New Yorker, explore the lives of five women who did their best to stand up and cause more trouble than was considered proper in Japanese society. Their lives stretch across a century and a half of explosive cultural and political transformations in Japan. These five artists-two actresses, two writers, and a painter-were noted for their talents, their beauty, and their love affairs rather than for any association with politics. But through the fearlessness of their art and their private lives, they influenced the attitudes of their times and challenged the status quo. Phyllis Birnbaum presents her subjects from various perspectives, allowing them to shine forth in all of their contradictory brilliance: generous and petulant, daring and timid, prudent and foolish. There is Matsui Sumako, the actress who introduced Ibsen's Nora and Wilde's Salome to Japanese audiences but is best remembered for her ambition, obstreperous temperament and turbulent love life. We also meet Takamura Chieko, a promising but ultimately disappointed modernist painter whose descent into mental illness was immortalized in poetry by a husband who may well have been the source of her troubles. In a startling act of rebellion, the sensitive, aristocratic poet Yanagiwara Byakuren left her crude and powerful husband, eloped with her revolutionary lover, and published her request for a divorce in the newspapers. Uno Chiyo was a popular novelist who preferred to be remembered for the romantic wars she fought. Willful, shrewd, and ambitious, Uno struggled for sexual liberation and literary merit. Birnbaum concludes by exploring the life and career of Takamine Hideko, a Japanese film star who portrayed wholesome working-class heroines in hundreds of films, working with such directors as Naruse, Kinoshita, Ozu, and Kurosawa. Angry about a childhood spent working to provide for greedy relatives, Takamine nevertheless made peace with her troubled past and was rewarded for years of hard work with a brilliant career. Drawing on fictional accounts, interviews, memoirs, newspaper reports, and the creative works of her subjects, Birnbaum has created vivid, seamless narrative portraits of these five remarkable women.

Read more less

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher Lonely Planet's Seattle is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Make your pilgrimage to the top of the iconic Space Needle, add your gum to the wall at Pike Place Market, and pay homage to Jimi Hendrix at the EMP Museum - all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Seattle and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet's Seattle: NEW pull-out, passport-size 'Just Landed' card with Wi-Fi, ATM and transportation info - all you need for a smooth journey from airport to hotel Colour maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - history, people, music, arts, architecture, cuisine, politics Covers Downtown, Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, Belltown, Seattle Center, Queen Anne, Lake Union, Capitol Hill, the U District, Green Lake, Fremont, Ballard, Discovery Park The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet's Seattle is our most comprehensive guide to Seattle, and is perfect for discovering both popular and off-the-beaten-path experiences. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

Read more less

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher Lonely Planet Central Asia is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Enjoy booming Almaty's cafes, clubs and shops, wind through rugged mountains past ancient tombs, hot springs, and remote Kyrgyz yurt camps on Tajikistan's Pamir Highway; and wonder at the architecture in Uzbekistan's Samarkand - all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of central Asia and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet's Central Asia: Colour maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights provide a richer, more rewarding travel experience - covering history, art, literature, music, architecture, landscapes, wildlife, Islam in Central Asia, the Silk Road, Central Asia today Covers Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and more The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet Central Asia is our most comprehensive guide to the region, and is perfect for discovering both popular and offbeat sights. Travelling further afield? Check out Lonely Planet's Mongolia, China and Iran guides for a comprehensive look at all those countries have to offer. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

Read more less

2019 AXIOM BUSINESS BOOK AWARD WINNER Featured in Forbes, NPR's Marketplace, and a Google Talk, The Customer Centricity Playbook offers "actionable insights to drive immediate value," according to Neil Hoyne, Head of Customer Analytics and Chief Analytics Evangelist, Google. How did global gaming company Electronic Arts go from being named "Worst Company in America" to clearing a billion dollars in profit? They discovered a simple truth—and acted on it: Not all customers are the same, regardless of how they appear on the surface. In The Customer Centricity Playbook, Wharton School professor Peter Fader and Wharton Interactive's executive director Sarah Toms help you see your customers as individuals rather than a monolith, so you can stop wasting resources by chasing down product sales to each and every consumer. Fader and Toms offer a 360-degree analysis of all the elements that support customer centricity within an organization. In this book, you will learn how to: Develop a customer-centric strategy for your organization Understand the right way to think about customer lifetime value (CLV) Finetune investments in customer acquisition, retention, and development tactics based on customer heterogeneity Foster a culture that sustains customer centricity, and also understand the link between CLV and market valuation Understand customer relationship management (CRM) systems, as they are a vital underpinning for all these areas through the valuable insights they provide Fader's first book, Customer Centricity, quickly became a go-to for readers interested in focusing on the right customers for strategic advantage. In this new book, Fader and Toms offer a true playbook for companies of all sizes that want to create and implement a winning strategy to acquire, develop, and retain customers for the greatest value. "A must-read."—Aimee Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer, Zillow "The Customer Centricity Playbook offers fundamental insights to point organizations of any size in the right direction."—Rob Markey, Partner, Bain & Company, Inc., and coauthor, The Ultimate Question 2.0 "Peter Fader and Sarah Toms offer transformative insights that light the path for business leaders."—Susan Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer, SunTrust Banks

Read more less

When we read the book of nature, what do we read there? “All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all,” says a well-known hymn. This issue of Plough celebrates the creatures of our planet – plant, animal, and human – and the implications of humankind’s relationship to nature. But if nature can be read as a book that reveals the wisdom of its Creator, it also reveals things less lovely than stars and singing birds – a world of desperate competition for survival, mass extinctions, and deadly viruses. Is such a world a convincing argument for the Creator’s goodness? Turns out Christians and skeptics alike have been asking such questions since long before Darwin added a twist. Are we moderns out of practice at reading the book of nature? And if we forget how, will we fail to read human nature as well – what rights or purposes our Creator may have endowed us with? What then is there to limit the bounds of technological manipulation of humankind? This issue of Plough explores these and other fascinating questions about the natural world and our place in it. In this issue: - Sussex farmer Adam Nicholson evokes centuries of handwork that shaped the landscape of the Weald. - Gracy Olmstead revisits the land her forebears farmed in Idaho. - Ian Marcus Corbin tries walking phoneless to better note the beauty of the natural world. - Amish farmer John Kempf, a leader in regenerative agriculture, foresees a healthier future for farming. - Leah Libresco Sargeant offers a feminist critique of society’s war on women’s bodies. - Iván Bernal Marín visits Panama City’s traditional fishermen. - Maureen Swinger recalls to triumphs of second grade in forest school. - Edmund Waldstein questions head transplants and the limits of medical science. - Kelsey Osgood says it’s natural to fear death, and to transcend that fear through faith. - Tim Maendel lifts the veil on urban beekeeping along the Manhattan skyline. You’ll also find: - An essay by Christian Wiman on the poetry of doubt and faith - New poems by Alfred Nicol - A profile of Amazon activist nun Dorothy Stang - An appreciation of Keith Green’s songs - Insights on creation from Blaise Pascal, Julian of Norwich, Francis of Assisi, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Christopher Smart, Augustine of Hippo, The Book of Job, and Sadhu Sundar Singh - Reviews of The Opening of the American Mind, and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun Plough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to put their faith into action. Each issue brings you in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art to help you put Jesus’ message into practice and find common cause with others.

Read more less

Picture-perfect Porto is famed for its pastel-coloured houses, beautiful Baroque churches and intricate azulejos, but Portugal's second city offers so much more than this - think Michelin-starred restaurants, cutting-edge museums and a lively performing arts scene.Make the most of your trip to this charming city with DK Eyewitness Top 10. Planning is a breeze with our simple lists of ten, covering the very best that Porto has to offer and ensuring that you don't miss a thing. Best of all, the pocket-friendly format is light and easily portable; the perfect companion while out and about.Inside DK Eyewitness Top 10 Porto you will find: - Up-to-date information with insider tips and advice for staying safe.- Top 10 lists of Porto's must-sees, including Palácio da Bolsa, Igreja de de São Francisco, Cais de - Ribeira and Casa da Música.- Porto's most interesting areas, with the best places for sightseeing, food and drink, and shopping.- Themed lists, including the best azulejos, parks and beaches, Douro Valley wineries, local dishes and much more.- Easy-to-follow itineraries, perfect for a day trip, a weekend, or a week.- A laminated pull-out map of Porto, plus five full-colour area maps.Looking for more on Portugal's culture, history and attractions? Try our DK Eyewitness Portugal.About DK Eyewitness: At DK Eyewitness, we believe in the power of discovery. We make it easy for you to explore your dream destinations. DK Eyewitness travel guides have been helping travellers to make the most of their breaks since 1993. Filled with expert advice, striking photography and detailed illustrations, our highly visual DK Eyewitness guides will get you closer to your next adventure. We publish guides to more than 200 destinations, from pocket-sized city guides to comprehensive country guides. Named Top Guidebook Series at the 2020 Wanderlust Reader Travel Awards, we know that wherever you go next, your DK Eyewitness travel guides are the perfect companion.

Read more less

Lonely Planet: The world's number one travel guide publisher* Lonely Planet's South India & Kerala is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Float along Kerala's backwaters as the sun sinks behind whispering palms, hit the beach in Goa and watch incense-clouded evening processions around Madurai's joyful Meenakshi Amman Temple - all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of South India & Kerala and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet's South India & Kerala: Full-colour maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights provide a richer, more rewarding travel experience - history, art, food, drink, sport, politics Covers: Mumbai, Goa, Bengaluru, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Andaman Islands and more The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet's South India & Kerala is our most comprehensive guide to South India & Kerala, and is perfect for discovering both popular and off-the-beaten-path experiences. Looking for more extensive coverage? Check out Lonely Planet's India for an in-depth guide to the country. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia) *Source: Nielsen BookScan: Australia, UK, USA, 5/2016-4/2017

Read more less

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher Lonely Planet's Best of Central America is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Laze over dinner in a beachfront thatched hut on Bocas del Toro, Panama; explore remarkable jungle temples in Tikal, Guatemala; and stroll the picture-perfect cobblestone streets of Granada, Nicaragua. All with your trusted travel companion. Discover the best of Central America and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet's Best of Central America: Full-color images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights provide a richer, more rewarding travel experience - history, art, food, drink, sport, landscapes, wildlife Covers Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and more The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet's Best of Central America is filled with inspiring and colorful photos, and focuses on Central America's most popular attractions for those wanting to experience the best of the best. Looking for comprehensive guides that recommend both popular and offbeat experiences, and extensively cover all the regions? Check out Lonely Planet's individual country guides. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveler since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travelers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

Read more less

A remarkable account by a pioneering woman explorer who was described by Rudyard Kipling as 'the bravest woman of all my knowledge'.Until 1893, Mary Kingsley lived the typical life of a single Victorian woman, tending to sick relatives and keeping house for her brother. However, on the death of her parents, she undertook an extraordinary decision: with no prior knowledge of the region, she set out alone to West Africa to pursue her anthropological interests and collect botanical specimens. Her subsequent book, published in 1897, is a testament to understatement and humour - few explorers made less of the hardships and dangers experienced while travelling (including unaccompanied treks through dangerous jungles and encounters with deadly animals). Travels in West Africa would challenge (as well as reinforce) contemporary Victorian prejudices about Africa, and also made invaluable contributions to the fields of botany and anthropology. Above all, however, it has stood the test of time as a gripping, classic travel narrative by a woman whose sense of adventure and fascination with Africa transformed her whole life. This Penguin edition includes a fascinating introduction by Dr Toby Green examining Victorian attitudes to Africa, along with explanatory notes by Lynnette Turner.Mary Kingsley was born in north London in 1862, the daughter of the traveller and physician George Kingsley and his former housekeeper, Mary Bailey. Her education was scant: while her younger brother was sent away to school, she stayed at home. Later she lived in Cambridge, and cared for her bedridden mother. Following the deaths of her parents, Kingsley embarked on a voyage to West Africa in August 1893, with the object of studying native religion and law and collecting zoological specimens. In December 1894, she undertook a second trip to the region, during which she became the first woman to climb West Africa's highest mountain, Mount Cameroon. On returning home eleven months later, she wrote Travels in West Africa, which was published in 1897 and was followed by West African Studies in 1899. Kingsley made one final trip to Africa, enlisting as a volunteer nurse in South Africa during the Boer War. She had only been there for two months when she developed typhoid fever and died, on 3rd June 1900, before being buried at sea in accordance with her wishes.Lynnette Turner is Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Edge Hill University. Toby Green is Lecturer in Lusophone African History and Culture at Kings College London. His book The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa appeared in 2011.

Read more less

The Accidental Playground explores the remarkable landscape created by individuals and small groups who occupied and rebuilt an abandoned Brooklyn waterfront. While local residents, activists, garbage haulers, real estate developers, speculators, and two city administrations fought over the fate of the former Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal (BEDT), others simply took to this decaying edge, transforming it into a unique venue for leisure, creative, and everyday practices. These occupiers and do-it-yourself builders created their own waterfront parks and civic spaces absent every resource needed for successful urban development, including plans, designs, capital, professional assistance, consensus, and permission from the waterfront’s owners. Amid trash, ruins, weeds, homeless encampments, and the operation of an active garbage transfer station, they inadvertently created the “Brooklyn Riviera” and made this waterfront a destination that offered much more than its panoramic vistas of the Manhattan skyline. The terminal evolved into the home turf for unusual and sometimes spectacular recreational, social, and creative subcultures, including the skateboarders who built a short-lived but nationally renowned skatepark, a twenty-five-piece “public” marching band, fire performance troupes, artists, photographers, and filmmakers. At the same time it served the basic recreational needs of local residents. Collapsing piers became great places to catch fish, sunbathe, or take in the views; the foundation of a demolished warehouse became an ideal place to picnic, practice music, or do an art project; rubble-strewn earth became a compelling setting for film and fashion shoots; a broken bulkhead became a beach; and thick patches of weeds dotted by ailanthus trees became a jungle. These reclamations, all but ignored by city and state governments and property interests that were set to transform this waterfront, momentarily added to the distinctive cultural landscape of the city’s most bohemian and rapidly changing neighborhood. Drawing on a rich mix of documentary strategies, including observation, ethnography, photography, and first-person narrative, Daniel Campo probes this accidental playground, allowing those who created it to share and examine their own narratives, perspectives, and conflicts. The multiple constituencies of this waterfront were surprisingly diverse, their stories colorful and provocative. When taken together, Campo argues, they suggest a radical reimagining of urban parks and public spaces, and the practices by which they are created and maintained. The Accidental Playground, which treats readers to an utterly compelling story, is an exciting and distinctive contribution to the growing literature on unplanned spaces and practices in cities today.

Read more less

Whether you want to sail to beautiful Lake Bled, relax in stunning thermal spas or marvel at Ljubljana's art nouveau architecture, your DK Eyewitness travel guide makes sure you experience all that Slovenia has to offer.Straddling the Alps and the Adriatic, Slovenia is a treasure-trove of picture-perfect landscapes, immersive cultural events, historic landmarks, and delicious food and wine. From scenic cities to alpine oases, sun-soaked beaches to verdant vineyards, the country's beauty is timeless, abundant and truly unforgettable.Our updated guide brings Slovenia to life, transporting you there like no other travel guide does with expert-led insights, trusted travel advice, detailed breakdowns of all the must-see sights, photographs on practically every page, and our hand-drawn illustrations which place you inside the country's iconic buildings and neighbourhoods. Our updated 2023 travel guide brings Slovenia to life. DK Eyewitness Slovenia is your ticket to the trip of a lifetime. Inside DK Eyewitness Slovenia you will find: - A fully-illustrated top experiences guide: our expert pick of Slovenia's must-sees and hidden gems.- Accessible itineraries to make the most out of each and every day.- Expert advice: honest recommendations for getting around safely, when to visit each sight, what to do before you visit, and how to save time and money.- Colour-coded chapters to every part of Slovenia, from Ljubljana to the Alps, Karst to Maribor. - Practical tips: the best places to eat, drink, shop and stay.- Detailed maps and walks to help you navigate the region country easily and confidently.- Covers: Ljubljana, Old Town, New Town, Around the Centre, Further Afield, The Alps, Coastal Slovenia and the Karst, Southern and Eastern Slovenia.About DK Eyewitness: At DK Eyewitness, we believe in the power of discovery. We make it easy for you to explore your dream destinations. DK Eyewitness travel guides have been helping travellers to make the most of their breaks since 1993. Filled with expert advice, striking photography and detailed illustrations, our highly visual DK Eyewitness guides will get you closer to your next adventure. We publish guides to more than 200 destinations, from pocket-sized city guides to comprehensive country guides. Named Top Guidebook Series at the 2020 Wanderlust Reader Travel Awards, we know that wherever you go next, your DK Eyewitness travel guides are the perfect companion.

Read more less

The ideal travel companion, full of insider advice on what to see and do, plus detailed itineraries and comprehensive maps for exploring the Czech and Slovak Republics.Indulge in the country's famous beer at the historic brewing history of Plzen, wander the medieval alleyways of Ceský Krumlov, admire the magnificently Gothic Karlštejn Castle or explore the museums and buoyant theatre scene of Brno: everything you need to know is clearly laid out within colour-coded chapters. Discover the best of the Czech and Slovak Republics with this indispensable travel guide.Inside DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Czech and Slovak Republics:- Over 35 colour maps, plus road maps of both countries, help you navigate with ease- Simple layout makes it easy to find the information you need- Comprehensive tours and itineraries of the Czech and Slovak Republics, designed for every interest and budget- Illustrations and floorplans detail the Czech Republic's most iconic sights, including the world-famous Charles Bridge and St Vitus's Cathedral in Prague, the imposing Karlštejn Castle, Plzen's Cathedral of St Bartholomew, the hilltop castle of Špilberk in Brno; plus Slovakia's St Martin's Cathedral in Bratislava, romantic Bojnice Castle and distinguished Town Hall in Levoca; and more- Colour photographs of both country's vibrant cities, historic churches and castles, medieval towns, incredible architecture, picturesque countryside and more- Detailed chapters, with area maps, cover the Czech Republic, including Prague - Hradcany and Malá Strana, Stare Mesto and Josefov, Nove Mesto - Central Bohemia, South Bohemia, West Bohemia, North Bohemia, East Bohemia, North Moravia and Silesia, and South Moravia; plus Slovakia, including Bratislava, West Slovakia, Central Slovakia and East Slovakia- Historical and cultural context gives you a richer travel experience: learn about both countries' common history, social heritage, iconic architecture, diverse cuisine, festivals and events, thermal springs and baths, winemaking tradition and more- Experience the Czech Republic with features on its landscape and wildlife, religious architecture, music, art and decorative arts, literature and film; experience Slovakia with features on landscape and wildlife, Slovak architecture, and a tour of the Slovenský kras- Essential travel tips: our expert choices of where to stay, eat, shop and sightsee, plus useful phrases, and transport, visa and health information DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Czech and Slovak Republics is a detailed, easy-to-use guide designed to help you get the most from your visit to the Czech and Slovak Republics.DK Eyewitness: winner of the Top Guidebook Series in the Wanderlust Reader Travel Awards 2017. "No other guide whets your appetite quite like this one" - The IndependentPlanning a city break to the Czech capital? Try our DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Prague.About DK Eyewitness Travel: DK's highly visual Eyewitness guides show you what others only tell you, with easy-to-read maps, tips, and tours to inform and enrich your holiday. DK is the world's leading illustrated reference publisher, producing beautifully designed books for adults and children in over 120 countries.

Read more less

Packed with more than 1,200 incredible images you can discover the world's most precious and fascinating objects, from rocks and gems to fossils and shells.Earth's extraordinary minerals, gems, shells, and fossils are all on dazzling display in this essential visual encyclopedia for children.The Rock and Gem Book is an indispensable guide to the natural world's most remarkable treasures the book shows each rock, mineral, fossil, and shell in its natural form, as well as a wide range of everyday and unexpected objects in which they can be found Feast your eyes on the ultimate treasure trove that any pirate would envy!This genius geology book for kids has over 1200 stunning photographs that showcase rocks and gems in glorious detail, ensuring you can recognise sedimentary from sandstone, metamorphic from marble, and pyrite from pearl. The unique qualities of each eye-catching material are described in-depth, together with their broad range of uses in art, industry, architecture, and science. Treasure seekers, get set to start your own collection with this engaging encyclopedia for children aged 9-12. Celebrate your child's curiosity as they explore:-Striking and detailed diagrams, drawings and illustrations on every page -A highly visual approach to learning -Ideal combination of colourful diagrams with infographic text boxes-CGI reconstructions show whole animals to help understand fossil fragments.Keep your eyes open for rainbow rocks, fluorescent minerals, priceless diamonds, and meteor showers on your geological journey of discovery. Meet dinosaurs in the prehistoric period to understand how fossils form, join the pyramid builders of ancient Egypt to investigate the limestone bricks, and take a dip in the ocean on the hunt for clams, cowries, and cockles.This captivating kids enyclopedia also includes at-a-glance panels that provide a quick reference to all the stats, with easy-to-read accessible text for readers aged 9-12, yet can be enjoyed by the entire family, making this enthralling children's encyclopedia a beautiful and educational gift that can be passed down generations.Learn all about the world one picture at a time!If you like Rock and Gem Book, then why not complete the collection? Part of the highly-visual Our World In Pictures series, avid readers can dive into the world of dinosaurs with The Dinosaur Book, become a vehicle virtuoso with Cars, Trains, Ships and Planes and venture on a journey across the globe with Countries, Cultures, People & Places.

Read more less

Winner, James Beard Award for Best Book in U.S. FoodwaysWinner, IACP Book of the YearWinner, IACP Best American CookbookAn NPR Best Book of the Year A Saveur, Washington Post, and Garden & Gun Best Cookbook of the Year A Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Eater, Epicurious, and The Splendid Table Best New CookbookA Forbes Best New Cookbook for Travelers: Holiday Gift Guide 2021Long-Listed for The Art of Eating Prize for Best Food Book of 2021“Sometimes you find a restaurant cookbook that pulls you out of your cooking rut without frustrating you with miles long ingredient lists and tricky techniques. Mosquito Supper Club is one such book. . . . In a quarantine pinch, boxed broth, frozen shrimp, rice, beans, and spices will go far when cooking from this book.” —Epicurious, The 10 Restaurant Cookbooks to Buy Now “Martin shares the history, traditions, and customs surrounding Cajun cuisine and offers a tantalizing slew of classic dishes.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review For anyone who loves Cajun food or is interested in American cooking or wants to discover a distinct and engaging new female voice—or just wants to make the very best duck gumbo, shrimp jambalaya, she-crab soup, crawfish étouffée, smothered chicken, fried okra, oyster bisque, and sweet potato pie—comes Mosquito Supper Club. Named after her restaurant in New Orleans, chef Melissa M. Martin’s debut cookbook shares her inspired and reverent interpretations of the traditional Cajun recipes she grew up eating on the Louisiana bayou, with a generous helping of stories about her community and its cooking. Every hour, Louisiana loses a football field’s worth of land to the Gulf of Mexico. Too soon, Martin’s hometown of Chauvin will be gone, along with the way of life it sustained. Before it disappears, Martin wants to document and share the recipes, ingredients, and customs of the Cajun people. Illustrated throughout with dazzling color photographs of food and place, the book is divided into chapters by ingredient—from shrimp and oysters to poultry, rice, and sugarcane. Each begins with an essay explaining the ingredient and its context, including traditions like putting up blackberries each February, shrimping every August, and the many ways to make an authentic Cajun gumbo. Martin is a gifted cook who brings a female perspective to a world we’ve only heard about from men. The stories she tells come straight from her own life, and yet in this age of climate change and erasure of local cultures, they feel universal, moving, and urgent.

Read more less

A BEAUTIFULLY EVOCATIVE STORY OF A CHILD'S JOURNEY TO ENGLAND ON BOARD EMPIRE WINDRUSH, FROM AN INTERNATIONALLY CELEBRATED, MULTI-AWARD-WINNING POET AND AN EXTRAORDINARY DEBUT ILLUSTRATOR."you're stepping into historybringing your Caribbean eyeto another horizon"With one last hug, Windrush chid waves goodbye to his Caribbean home and sets sail across the ocean to Britain. In this powerful picture book, full of hope and promise, celebrated poet John Agard and illustrator Sophie Bass movingly evoke the journey made by children and their families as part of the Windrush Generation.PRAISE FOR JOHN AGARD'S WINDRUSH CHILD:Shortlisted for the Diverse Book Awards 2023Shortlisted for the Spark! School Book Award 2023Longlisted for the Jhalak Children's & YA Prize 2023Longlisted for the 2023 Yoto Carnegie Medal for IllustrationLonglisted for the Children’s Literature Festivals Book Awards 2023Longlisted for the 2023 Klaus Flugge Prize"A gorgeous bedtime read that will reward repeat readings, deceptively simple, emotionally deep." Joseph Coelho, Children's Laureate"A beautiful picture book with gorgeous illustrations ... I couldn't think of a better way for young children to learn about history and understand the world." David Walliams“John Agard’s hopeful poem commemorates a child’s Windrush journey from the Caribbean, and bold and vivid illustrations sing of palm trees and mangos left behind, and new experiences, including pigeons and terraced houses and snow.” ‘One to Watch’, Sunday Times (Culture)"Debut illustrator Bass’s intricate, colourful, arresting pictures bring out all the resonances of Agard’s spare text in this story of a child, a ship, a journey, and a new life enriched by the loves and memories of the old." Guardian"A poetic story brought to life by Sophie Bass’s colour-popping illustrations." Daily Mail"A stunning picture book ... with the distinctive, vibrant art of Sophie Bass.” The Bookseller“The illustrations by Sophie Bass powerfully convey his parents’ emotions at different stages of the journey: hope, excitement, anxiety and relief are etched on to their faces in subtle ways. The child’s perspective of his adventure is the true soul of the book though and will stay in the reader’s memory for a long time.” Just Imagine

Read more less

Lonely Planet: The world's number one travel guide publisher* Lonely Planet's Best of Europe is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. See the Northern Lights in Reykjavik, party in Amsterdam and ride through the canals of Venice - all with your trusted travel companion. Discover the best of Europe and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet's Best of Europe: Full-colour images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - history, art, food, wine, sports, landscapes, wildlife Free, convenient pull-out map (included in print version), plus easy-to-use colour maps to help you navigate Covers London, Scottish Highlands, Dublin, Reykjavik, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, Provence, Barcelona, Lisbon, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Rome, Venice, Florence, Tuscany, and more. The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet's Best of Europe is filled with inspiring and colourful photos, and focuses on Europe's most popular attractions for those wanting to experience the best of the best. Visiting a European city but just want the highlights? Pockets are smaller guides featuring the top sights and experiences for a shorter trip or weekend visit. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia) *Source: Nielsen BookScan: Australia, UK, USA, 5/2016-4/2017

Read more less

'I cannot say enough about How to Read Now... Check it out' Roxane Gay'A red-hot grenade... One of my favourite books of the year' Jia Tolentino'Energetically brilliant, warmly humane, incisively funny' Andrew Sean Greer'I gasped, shouted, and holler-laughed . . . Phenomenal' R.O. Kwon'A wake-up call. A broadside. A rich and brilliant war cry' Chris PowerHow many times have we heard that reading builds empathy? That we can travel through books? How often have we were heard about the importance of diversifying our bookshelves? Or claimed that books saved our lives? These familiar words - beautiful, aspirational - are sometimes even true. But award-winning novelist Elaine Castillo has more ambitious hopes for our reading culture, and in this collection of linked essays, she moves to wrest reading away from the aspirations of uniting people in empathetic harmony and reposition it as thornier, ultimately more rewarding work. How to Read Now explores the politics and ethics of reading, and insists that we are capable of something better: a more engaged relationship not just with our fiction and our art, but with our buried and entangled histories. Smart, funny, galvanizing, and sometimes profane, Castillo attacks the stale questions and less-than-critical proclamations that masquerade as vital discussion: reimagining the cartography of the classics, building a moral case against the settler colonialism of lauded writers like Joan Didion, taking aim at Nobel Prize winners and toppling indie filmmakers, and celebrating glorious moments in everything from popular TV like The Watchmen to the films of Wong Kar-wai and the work of contemporary poets like Tommy Pico. At once a deeply personal and searching history of one woman's reading life, and a wide-ranging and urgent intervention into our globalized conversations about why reading matters today, How to Read Now empowers us to embrace a more complicated, embodied form of reading, inviting us to acknowledge complicated truths, ignite surprising connections, imagine a more daring solidarity, and create space for a riskier intimacy - within ourselves, and with each other.

Read more less

'I cannot say enough about How to Read Now... Check it out' Roxane Gay'A red-hot grenade... One of my favourite books of the year' Jia Tolentino'Energetically brilliant, warmly humane, incisively funny' Andrew Sean Greer'I gasped, shouted, and holler-laughed . . . Phenomenal' R.O. Kwon'A wake-up call. A broadside. A rich and brilliant war cry' Chris PowerHow many times have we heard that reading builds empathy? That we can travel through books? How often have we were heard about the importance of diversifying our bookshelves? Or claimed that books saved our lives? These familiar words - beautiful, aspirational - are sometimes even true. But award-winning novelist Elaine Castillo has more ambitious hopes for our reading culture, and in this collection of linked essays, she moves to wrest reading away from the aspirations of uniting people in empathetic harmony and reposition it as thornier, ultimately more rewarding work. How to Read Now explores the politics and ethics of reading, and insists that we are capable of something better: a more engaged relationship not just with our fiction and our art, but with our buried and entangled histories. Smart, funny, galvanizing, and sometimes profane, Castillo attacks the stale questions and less-than-critical proclamations that masquerade as vital discussion: reimagining the cartography of the classics, building a moral case against the settler colonialism of lauded writers like Joan Didion, taking aim at Nobel Prize winners and toppling indie filmmakers, and celebrating glorious moments in everything from popular TV like The Watchmen to the films of Wong Kar-wai and the work of contemporary poets like Tommy Pico. At once a deeply personal and searching history of one woman's reading life, and a wide-ranging and urgent intervention into our globalized conversations about why reading matters today, How to Read Now empowers us to embrace a more complicated, embodied form of reading, inviting us to acknowledge complicated truths, ignite surprising connections, imagine a more daring solidarity, and create space for a riskier intimacy - within ourselves, and with each other.

Read more less

“A perfect pick for kids who love Rick Riordan.” —Booklist (starred review) “A winner for all kids, but it will be especially loved by Latinx and Hispanic families.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) The Lightning Thief meets the Story Thieves series in this middle grade fantasy inspired by Hispanic folklore, legends, and myths from the Iberian Peninsula and Central and South America.Charlie Hernández has always been proud of his Latin American heritage. He loves the culture, the art, and especially the myths. Thanks to his abuela’s stories, Charlie possesses an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the monsters and ghouls who have spent the last five hundred years haunting the imaginations of children all across the Iberian Peninsula, as well as Central and South America. And even though his grandmother sometimes hinted that the tales might be more than mere myth, Charlie’s always been a pragmatist. Even barely out of diapers, he knew the stories were just make-believe—nothing more than intricately woven fables meant to keep little kids from misbehaving. But when Charlie begins to experience freaky bodily manifestations—ones all too similar to those described by his grandma in his favorite legend—he is suddenly swept up in a world where the mythical beings he’s spent his entire life hearing about seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Hispanic folklore and into his life. And even stranger, they seem to know more about him than he knows about himself. Soon, Charlie finds himself in the middle of an ancient battle between La Liga, a secret society of legendary mythological beings sworn to protect the Land of the Living, and La Mano Peluda (a.k.a. the Hairy Hand), a cabal of evil spirits determined to rule mankind. With only the help of his lifelong crush, Violet Rey, and his grandmother’s stories to guide him, Charlie must navigate a world where monsters and brujas rule and things he couldn’t possibly imagine go bump in the night. That is, if he has any hope of discovering what’s happening to him and saving his missing parents (oh, and maybe even the world). No pressure, muchacho.

Read more less

Landscape architect Lake Douglas employs written accounts, archival data, historic photographs, lithographs, maps, and city planning documents -- many of which have never before been published -- to explore public and private outdoor spaces in New Orleans and those who shaped them. The result offers the first in-depth examination of the city's landscape history.Douglas presents this ""beautiful and imposing"" city as a work of art crafted by numerous influences. His survey from the colonial period to the twentieth century finds that geography, climate, and, above all, the multicultural character of its residents have made New Orleans unique in American landscape design history. French and Spanish settlers, Africans and Native Americans, as well as immigrants from Germany, Ireland, Italy, and other parts of the world all participated in creating this community's unique public and private landscapes. Places such as Congo Square, Audubon Park, the river levees, and ""neutral grounds"" -- local residents' own term for medians -- together with ordinary residential gardens are all testaments to the city's international imprint. Douglas identifies five types of public and private designed landscapes in New Orleans: squares, linear open spaces, urban parks, commercial pleasure gardens, and domestic gardens. Discussing their design, function, and content, he shows how specific examples of each contribute to the city's unique character and also fit within the larger context of American landscape design history. Each type has its own complexion and reflects the influence of those who occupied it. Though New Orleanians lived in strata according to language, cultural identity, economics, and race, they found common ground, literally, in their community's landscapes.Douglas's sweeping study, illustrated with over 90 color and black-and-white images, includes an exploration of archival horticultural books, almanacs, and periodicals; information about laborers who actually built landscapes; details of horticultural commerce, services, and marketing materials; and an exhaustive inventory of plants grown in New Orleans for agricultural, medicinal, and ornamental uses.Public Spaces, Private Gardens provides an informative look at two hundred years of the designed landscapes and horticulture of New Orleans and a fresh perspective on one of America's most interesting and historic cities.

Read more less

The fascinating story of the urban honeybee garden on the roof of the legendary Waldorf Astoria hotel.The tale of Honeybee Hotel begins over one hundred years ago, with the Astor family and the birth of the iconic Manhattan landmark, the magnificent Waldorf Astoria. In those early days the posh art deco masterpiece had its own rooftop garden for guests to enjoy. Fast-forward to the turn of the twenty-first century, and we meet executive chef David Garcelon, the creative genius behind the idea of restoring the celebrated rooftop garden. His vision included six hives containing some 300,000 honeybees, which would provide a unique flavor for his restaurant’s culinary masterpieces. Yet Garcelon’s dream was much grander than simply creating a private chefs’ garden: he wanted the honeybee garden to serve as a bond among people. Soon the staff of the hotel, the guests, local horticulturists, and beekeeping experts formed a community around the bees and the garden, which not only raised vegetables, herbs, and honey to be served in the hotel but also provided healthy food to the homeless shelter across the street at St. Bartholomew’s Church. Through her meticulous research and interviews with culinary glitterati, entomologists, horticulturists, and urban beekeepers, Leslie Day leads us on a unique insider’s tour of this little-known aspect of the natural world of New York City. She familiarizes us with the history of the architectural and cultural gem that is the Waldorf and introduces us to the lives of Chef Garcelon and New York City’s master beekeeper, Andrew Coté.Day, an urban naturalist and incurable New Yorker, tells us of the garden’s development, shares delectable honey-based recipes from the hotel’s chefs and mixologist, and relates the fate of the hotel in the wake of the Waldorf’s change of ownership. During our journey, we learn quite a bit about apiaries, as well as insect and flower biology, through the lives of the bees that travel freely around the city in search of nectar, pollen, and resin. This absorbing narrative unwraps the heart within the glamour of one of the world’s most beloved cities, while assuring us that nature can thrive in the ultimate urban environment when its denizens care enough to foster that connection.

Read more less

Ensure you have the skills to effectively communicate with patients and other healthcare professionals! With its easy-to-read style, Effective Communication for Health Professionals, 2nd edition, is loaded with useful tips and exercises to help you learn the universal (and necessary) practice of communication. This full-color second edition reflects current therapeutic techniques, including Communication Guidelines feature boxes, Words at Work dialogue boxes, added case studies, and all-new content exploring the most current communication tools in the modern health care setting. In addition, interactive exercises on the Evolve companion website encourages you to practice therapeutic communication techniques in real-life situations. UNIQUE! Interactive activities on accompanying Evolve site include a variety of application exercises such as scenarios with voice mail messages and patient/caregiver interviews. Easy-to-read style provides practical information, hints, and tips. Test Your Communication IQ boxes provide you with a short self-assessment test at the beginning of each chapter. Spotlight on Success boxes provide you with useful, practical tips for improving workplace habits and communication. Expanding Critical Thinking boxes provide actual case examples and activities with useful tips to help you apply what you've learned to practice. Legal Eagle boxes provide useful tips that focus on honesty, as well as ethical and legal communication between patients and healthcare workers. End-of-chapter questions and exercises help you to use knowledge learned from topics presented in the chapter. NEW! Chapter devoted to cross-cultural communication promotes understanding of care in a diverse workplace NEW! Chapter on diseases and disorders discusses communication with patients experiencing specific physical and mental illnesses and disorders. NEW and UNIQUE! Words at Work dialogue boxes demonstrate actual conversations between healthcare workers and clients. UPDATED! Content reflects the most current communication tools for the modern healthcare setting. NEW! Full-color design and art program promote engagement. NEW and UNIQUE! Communication Guidelines boxes direct you to best practices for the effective exchange of information. NEW! Additional Taking the Chapter to Work case studies demonstrate real-life communication pitfalls and successes.

Read more less

For nearly four decades, Joseph Goldberg has produced paintings of great intelligence and sumptuous beauty. Raised near Spokane, Washington, he returned to live and work in the open, semi-arid spaces of eastern Washington after building a Seattle reputation as an abstract artist working with geometric shapes in the unusual technique of encaustic painting. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Goldberg's paintings were deceptively simple arrangements of geometric motifs in watercolor on paper or oil on linen. By the mid-1970s, he began to make paintings of a more complex nature, sometimes in nonrectangular forms, but still expressing a reductive sensibility. By the early 1980s, Goldberg had fully embraced his signature medium of encaustic-a demanding and difficult method of fusing intense colors of dry pigments with layers of wax, fired by heat into a lustrous surface. The paintings of the 1980s pursued a variety of motifs abstracted from architecture and landscape, including a series of irregular, banner-like works of shapes within similar shapes. At the same time, Goldberg was producing paintings and drawings of the highly varied Washington landscape and of his travels through the Southwest and Europe. As his work progressed through the 1990s, this expansive vision of the natural world embraced an increasingly larger scope of imagery. Goldberg's development as an artist has been enriched by his travels through ancient Roman ruins and the Greek revival manors of rural Sussex, England, as well as by his studies of Hopi, Anasazi, Navajo, and Zuni civilizations. This history emerges in the form of representational architectural details, landscape impressions, and cultural references. His more recent work is focused on Eastern Washington and its landscape of dramatic gorges, prominent ridges, and desolate fields of sage and sand. The paintings since 2000 have often returned to the severity of his earliest work, now filtered through the artist's keen sense of the art that came before him and of the grandeur of nature surrounding him. Whether painting the space between stars in the dark skies of Eastern Washington or the expansive white ground between rural detritus abandoned at the edges of a snow-covered field, Goldberg has imbued his paintings with mystery and meaning. An essay by New York-based poet Nathan Kernan examines Goldberg's oeuvre and explores the role of poetry in the artist's life and work. In her interview with Goldberg, Seattle Post-Intelligencer critic Regina Hackett considers more personal aspects of the artist's life. A Thomas T. Wilson Book

Read more less

These poems tell of a continuing journey and reveal a subtly changing voice. They represent a consistent and rewarding attempt to hold together in one space the things that matter. This is seeking first the kingdom of God; maintaining the community of men and women who incarnate that kingdom and make life meaningful; the beauties of St Lucia’s natural world and its rich traditions of folkculture; and the challenges and demands of poetry.John Robert Lee’s Collected Poems tell both of a continuing journey and a subtly changing voice but also of an underlying, consistent attempt to hold together in one space the things that matter. This is seeking first the kingdom of God; maintaining the community of men and women who incarnate that kingdom and make life meaningful; the beauties of St Lucia’s natural world and its rich traditions of folk-culture; and the challenges and demands of poetry.Whilst sometimes Lee’s poems involve a quiet self-communing, more often they are conversations with God and with those people who are close to him. At points they rise to being canticles of praise that express the experience of, or the yearning for the transcendent through the imagery of the visible world. And whilst the poems connect to the wider world of travel and world affairs, their touchstone is always St Lucia. Like Derek Walcott, like Kendel Hippolyte, Jane King and now Vladimir Lucien, John Robert Lee’s poems demonstrate how possible it is to find an enriching, puzzlingly complex and intellectually stimulating world in a small island society.The journey the poems tell is from the young man enthused with the energy of the radical decolonizing spirit of the 1970s, the years of deepening of Christian faith to the present of maturity and the acceptance of loss as well as gain, and the stamina needed for the continuing struggle for St Lucia to emerge from its colonial past and be ever more itself. In the later poems there are more glimpses of the private man who recognises that “My heart holds rooms I’ve never entered/ doors concealed, secret entrances.” And whilst over the forty years of the poems one hears always a personal, signal voice, over time the poems increasingly invest in the Kweyol language of the St Lucian folk as well as the voice of the English master and, latterly, display an growing interest in the relationship between poetry and the visual arts.

Read more less

Forever known for its blazing cinematic image of General George S. Patton (portrayed by George C. Scott) addressing his troops in front of a mammoth American flag, Patton won seven Oscars in 1971, including those for Best Picture and Best Actor. In doing so, it beat out a much-ballyhooed M*A*S*H, irreverent darling of the critics, and grossed $60 million despite an intense anti-war climate. But, as Nicholas Evan Sarantakes reveals, it was a film that almost didn’t get made. Sarantakes offers an engaging and richly detailed production history of what became a critically acclaimed box office hit. He takes readers behind the scenes, even long before any scenes were ever conceived, to recount the trials and tribulations that attended the epic efforts of producer Frank McCarthy—like Patton a U.S. Army general—and Twentieth Century Fox to finally bring Patton to the screen after eighteen years of planning. Sarantakes recounts how filmmakers had to overcome the reluctance of Patton’s family, copyright issues with biographers, competing efforts for a biopic, and Department of Defence red tape. He chronicles the long search for a leading man—including discussions with Burt Lancaster, John Wayne, and even Ronald Reagan—before settling on Scott, a brilliant actor who brought to the part both enthusiasm for the project and identification with Patton’s passionate persona. He also tracks the struggles to shoot the movie with a large multinational cast, huge outlays for military equipment, and filming in six countries over a mere six months. And he provides revealing insider stories concerning, for example, Scott’s legendary drinking bouts and the origins of and debate over his famous opening monologue. Drawing on extensive research in the papers of Frank McCarthy and director Franklin Schaffner, studio archives, records of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, contemporary journalism, and oral histories, Sarantakes ultimately shows us that Patton is more than just one of the best war films ever made. Culturally, it also spoke to national ideals while exposing complex truths about power in the mid-twentieth century.

Read more less

The Seven Military Classics is one of the most profound studies of warfare ever written. It presents us with an Eastern tradition of strategic thought that emphasizes outwitting one's opponent through speed, stealth, flexibility, and a minimum of force,an approach very different from that stressed in the West, where the advantages of brute strength have overshadowed more subtle methods.Safeguarded for centuries by the ruling elites of imperial China, even in modern times these writings have been known only to a handful of Western specialists. In this volume are seven separate essays, written between 500 b.c. and a.d. 700, that preserve the essential tenets of strategy distilled from the experience of the most brilliant warriors of ancient China.Only one of these seven essays, Sun Tzu's famous Art of War, has been readily available in the West. Thanks to this faithful translation of the complete Seven Military Classics, the insights of these ancient Chinese texts are now accessible in their entirety.It's not uncommon to see a salaryman" on a crowded Tokyo subway studying one of the many popular Japanese editions of these essays. But why do so many businesspeople in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan study a 2,000-year-old military text? Because it embodies the strategic tradition of outwitting an opponent through speed, stealth, flexibility, and a minimum of effort. These principles have been proven both on the battlefield and in the marketplace. Now they are available in the West for the first time in their entirety.The lessons found in this book were exploited by such pivotal Asian war leaders as Japan's Yamamoto, China's Mao Tse-tung, and Vietnam's Giap to inflict terrible defeats on their enemies. And in more recent times, when Japan and others have decided to win their laurels on the field of international economic competition, these principles have been a key to the achievements of many Asian corporations. Executives in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan regularly study the Seven Military Classics. Unfortunately, even those far-sighted Western business leaders who have read Sun Tzu have glimpsed only a fraction of the knowledge their best Asian competitors use to plan corporate strategy,until now.Those who appreciate Chinese literature and philosophy will also discover much that is new in these pages. Here is a substantial but previously inaccessible body of thought that stands in contrast to Confucianism, which deprecated the military sphere in favour of self-cultivation and the ethical life. The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China remedies a serious gap in Western knowledge of Asian thought. This accurate translation is based on the best available classical Chinese manuscripts, some only recently discovered by archaeologists. It is a uniquely important contribution to the world's military literature and is essential reading for anyone interested in China's rich cultural heritage or in the timeless principles of successful strategy.

Read more less

You know shoddy: an adjective meaning cheap and likely poorly made. But did you know that before it became a popular descriptor, shoddy was first coined as a noun? In the early nineteenth century, shoddy was the name given to a new textile material made from reclaimed wool. Shoddy was, in fact, one of the earliest forms of industrial recycling as old rags and fabric clippings were ground into "devil's dust" and respun to be used in the making of suits, army uniforms, carpet lining, mattress stuffing, and more. In Shoddy, Hanna Rose Shell takes readers on a vivid ride beginning in West Yorkshire's Heavy Woollen District and its "shoddy towns," and traveling to the United States, the third world, and waste dumps, textile labs, and rag shredding factories, in order to unravel the threads of this story and its long history. Since the time of its first appearance, shoddy had become both pervasive and politically and culturally controversial on multiple levels. The use of the term "virgin" wool--still noticeable today in the labels on our sweaters--thus emerged as an effort by the wool industry to counter shoddy's appeal: to make shoddy seem shoddy. Public health experts, with encouragement from the wool industry, worried about sanitation and disease--how could old clothes be disinfected? As well, the idea of wearing someone else's old clothes so close to your own skin was discomforting in and of itself. Could you sleep peacefully knowing that your mattress was stuffed with dead soldiers' overcoats? Over time, shoddy the noun was increasingly used as an adjective that, according to Shell, captured a host of personal, ethical, commercial, and societal failings. Introducing us to many richly drawn characters along the way, Shell reveals an interwoven tale of industrial espionage, political infighting, scientific inquiry, ethnic prejudices, and war profiteering. By exploring a variety of sources from political and literary texts to fabric samples and old military uniforms, antique and art photographs and political cartoons, medical textbooks, and legal cases, Shell unspools the history of shoddy to uncover the surprising journey that individual strands of recycled wool - and more recently a whole range of synthetic fibers from nylon to Kevlar - may take over the course of several lifetimes. Not only in your garments and blankets, but under your rug, in your mattress pads, the peculiar confetti-like stuffing in your mailing envelopes, even the insulation in your walls. The resulting fabric is at once rich and sumptuous, and cheap and tawdry--and likely connected to something you are wearing right now. After reading, you will never use the word shoddy or think about your clothes, or even the world around you, the same way again.

Read more less

Lonely Planet: The world's number one travel guide publisher* Lonely Planet's Bolivia is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Explore the world's largest salt flat, walk in the path of the Inca and search for magic potions in La Paz markets - all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Bolivia and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet's Bolivia: Full-color images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights provide a richer, more rewarding travel experience - history, art, food, drink, sport, politics Covers La Paz, Lake Titicaca, the Yungas, the Cordilleras, the Southern Altiplano, Salar de Uyuni, Cochabamba, Potosi, Santa Cruz, the Amazon Basin and more. The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet's Bolivia is our most comprehensive guide to Bolivia, and is perfect for discovering both popular and off-the-beaten-path experiences. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveler since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travelers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveler's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia) *Source: Nielsen BookScan: Australia, UK, USA, 5/2016-4/2017

Read more less

THIS BOOK WILL HELP YOU - to appreciate the significance of this particular school of Buddhism, famous for its focus on meditation and self-awakening - to understand the history of Zen and the 'Ways of Zen' - to discover how Zen is a way of life -- not a belief system - to avoid faux pas in conversation, in travelling and in personal relationships Zen (in Chinese, Ch'an) is the form of Buddhism which the great teacher Bodhidharma brought to China from India in the late fifth century. Today it is practised mainly in Japan and Korea, . Based upon the understanding that each of us has the potential for complete awakening, Zen is in fact a coalition of practical ways of stilling the mind in order to attain self-knowledge. Because the realization of the true nature of reality, including one's own, is not an intellectual pursuit but an experienced truth, Zen teachers transmit the truth (dharma) from mind to mind or heart to heart without the use of words, using different techniques to break through the limitations of the logical mind. This engaging book explains the essence of Zen in simple terms.. It traces its development and looks at its unique methods of teaching, such as meditation, koans -- startling paradoxes that stop the intellect -- the use of texts, ceremonies, poetry, and the martial arts. It describes life in monasteries and in the everyday world. Because Zen is rooted in Reality, its practitioners often experience a delightful sense of wonder in the commonplace. This democratic and liberating philosophy does not require us to give up our own traditions, but rather helps us to deepen our understanding of them, and continues to inspire growing numbers of followers in the West. ACCESS THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS Simple Guides: Religion is a series of concise, accessible introductions to the world's major religions. Written by experts in the field, they offer an engaging and sympathetic description of the key concepts, beliefs and practices of different faiths. Ideal for spiritual seekers and travellers alike, Simple Guides aims to open the doors of perception. Together the books provide a reliable compass to the world's great spiritual traditions, and a point of reference for further exploration and discovery. By offering essential insights into the core values, customs and beliefs of different societies, they also enable visitors to be aware of the cultural sensibilities of their hosts, and to behave in a way that fosters mutual respect and understanding.

Read more less

In times that feel apocalyptic, where do we place our hope? It's an apocalyptic moment. The grim effects of climate change have left many people in despair. Young people often cite climate fears as a reason they are not having children. Then there’s the threat of nuclear war, again in the cards, which could make climate worries a moot point. The paradoxical answer ancient Judaism gave to such despair was a promise: the promise of doomsday, the “Day of the Lord” when God will visit his people and establish lasting justice and peace. Judgment, according to the Hebrew prophets, will be followed by renewal – for the faithful, and perhaps even for the entire cosmos. Over the centuries since, this hopeful vision of apocalypse has carried many others through moments of crisis and catastrophe. Might it do the same for us?On this theme: creation is transformed and made new.That’s what the “end of the age” meant to Jesus and his early - Peter J. Leithart says when old worlds die, we need something sturdier than the myth of progress. - Brandon McGinley says you can’t protect your kids from tragedy. - Cardinal Peter Turkson points to the spiritual roots of the climate crisis. - David Bentley Hart says disruption, not dogma, is Christianity’s grounds for hope. - Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz reminds us that the Book of Revelation ends well. - Lyman Stone argues that those who claim that having children threatens the environment are wrong. - Eleanor Parker recounts how, amid Viking terror, one Anglo-Saxon bishop held a kingdom together. - Shira Telushkin describes how artist Wassily Kandinsky forged a path from the material to the spiritual. - Anika T. Prather learned to let her children grieve during the pandemic.Also in the issue: - Ukrainian pastor Ivan Rusyn describes ministering in wartime Bucha and Kyiv. - Mindy Belz reports on farmers who held out in Syria despite ISIS. - New poems by winners of the 2022 Rhina Espaillat Poetry Award - A profile of newly sainted Charles de Foucauld - Reviews of Elena Ferrante’s In the Margins, Abigail Favale’s The Genesis of Gender, and Emily St. John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility - Readers’ forum, comics, and morePlough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to apply their faith to the challenges we face. Each issue includes in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art.

Read more less

Despite its rough-and-tumble image, Chicago has long been identified as a city where books take center stage. In fact, a volume by A. J. Liebling gave the Second City its nickname. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle arose from the midwestern capital's most infamous industry. The great Chicago Fire led to the founding of the Chicago Public Library. The city has fostered writers such as Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, and Gwendolyn Brooks. Chicago's literary magazines The Little Review and Poetry introduced the world to Eliot, Hemingway, Joyce, and Pound. The city's robust commercial printing industry supported a flourishing culture of the book. With this beautifully produced collection, Chicago's rich literary tradition finally gets its due. Chicago by the Book profiles 101 landmark publications about Chicago from the past 170 years that have helped define the city and its image. Each title-carefully selected by the Caxton Club, a venerable Chicago bibliophilic organization-is the focus of an illustrated essay by a leading scholar, writer, or bibliophile. Arranged chronologically to show the history of both the city and its books, the essays can be read in order from Mrs. John H. Kinzie's 1844 Narrative of the Massacre of Chicago to Sara Paretsky's 2015 crime novel Brush Back. Or one can dip in and out, savoring reflections on the arts, sports, crime, race relations, urban planning, politics, and even Mrs. O'Leary's legendary cow. The selections do not shy from the underside of the city, recognizing that its grit and graft have as much a place in the written imagination as soaring odes and boosterism. As Neil Harris observes in his introduction, "Even when Chicagoans celebrate their hearth and home, they do so while acknowledging deep-seated flaws." At the same time, this collection heartily reminds us all of what makes Chicago, as Norman Mailer called it, the "great American city." With essays from, among others, Ira Berkow, Thomas Dyja, Ann Durkin Keating, Alex Kotlowitz, Toni Preckwinkle, Frank Rich, Don Share, Carl Smith, Regina Taylor, Garry Wills, and William Julius Wilson; and featuring works by Saul Bellow, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sandra Cisneros, Clarence Darrow, Erik Larson, David Mamet, Studs Terkel, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Frank Lloyd Wright, and many more.

Read more less

In twenty-first-century American cities, policy makers increasingly celebrate university-sponsored innovation districts as engines of inclusive growth. But the story is not so simple. In University City, Laura Wolf-Powers chronicles five decades of planning in and around the communities of West Philadelphia’s University City to illuminate how the dynamics of innovation district development in the present both depart from and connect to the politics of mid-twentieth-century urban renewal. Drawing on archival and ethnographic research, Wolf-Powers concludes that even as university and government leaders vow to develop without displacement, what existing residents value is imperiled when innovation-driven redevelopment remains accountable to the property market. The book first traces the municipal and institutional politics that empowered officials to demolish a predominantly Black neighborhood near the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University in the late 1960s to make way for the University City Science Center and University City High School. It also provides new insight into organizations whose members experimented during that same period with alternative conceptions of economic advancement. The book then shifts to the present, documenting contemporary efforts to position university-adjacent neighborhoods as locations for prosperity built on scientific knowledge. Wolf-Powers examines the work of mobilized civic groups to push cultural preservation concerns into the public arena and to win policies to help economically insecure families keep a foothold in changing neighborhoods. Placing Philadelphia’s innovation districts in the context of similar development taking place around the United States, University City advocates a reorientation of redevelopment practice around the recognition that despite their negligible worth in real estate terms, the time, care, and energy people invest in their local environments—and in one another—are precious urban resources. *** Pictured on the book's cover is a luncheon on Melon Street between 37th and 38th Streets in West Philadelphia, May 31, 2014. The community meal was part of Funeral for a Home, a project that honored the life and passing of a house at 3711 Melon Street in Mantua. Photo by Jeffrey Stockbridge. Funeral for a Home was commissioned by Temple Contemporary, Temple University. Original support for Funeral for a Home was provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Philadelphia.

Read more less

Ireland's Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University publishes Famine Folios, a unique resource for students, scholars and researchers, as well as general readers, covering many aspects of the Famine in Ireland from 1845-1852 - the worst demographic catastrophe of nineteenth-century Europe. The essays are interdisciplinary in nature, and make available new research in Famine studies by internationally established scholars in history, art history, cultural theory, philosophy, media history, political economy, literature and music.During the peak years of the great famine at least 750,000 men, women, and children died from either starvation or disease. At the same time roughly 350,000 individuals were driven out of their dwellings. Overall the population of Ireland fell from some 8.5 million people in 1845 to around 6.5 million in 1851. This ominous drain of humanity continued at a slower rate well into the twentieth century.Whereas nature could be blamed for the lethal effects of acute hunger or malnutrition, human agency caused much of this devastating loss owing to mass evictions of the poorest tenants and squatters after the agent or bailiff had served them with the dreaded Notice To Quit. This richly illustrated pamphlet seeks to contextualize the mass evictions by focussing on the ideological and economic factors as well as the role of religious and racial prejudice in prompting owners to rid their estates of what was known as a "surplus population." Determined to avoid paying for the maintenance of unprofitable tenants and squatters, landlords sought to avoid insolvency by expelling these pauperized peasants. After destroying their cabins, they consolidated all these small holdings into larger farms or cattle ranches that were rented to solvent tenants. Relying on the laws governing land tenure, letting contracts, and rent, these landlords used the mechanism of eviction to ensure that their estates would become profitable enough to pay for their own privileged way of life.Whether or not the victims of eviction received private or public assistance to emigrate overseas, the results of these clearances were much the same. Thousands of acres were converted to pasturage in parts of Munster and Connaught and small villages or clachans were abandoned. Only the skeletal remains of stone cottages remained - some of which can still be seen today.No wonder that many Irish contemporaries called the evictors "exterminators. "

Read more less

Cutting-edge research by twenty-four international scholars on female power, agency, health, and literacy in ancient EgyptThere has been considerable scholarship in the last fifty years on the role of ancient Egyptian women in society. With their ability to work outside the home, inherit and dispense of property, initiate divorce, testify in court, and serve in local government, Egyptian women exercised more legal rights and economic independence than their counterparts throughout antiquity. Yet, their agency and autonomy are often downplayed, undermined, or outright ignored. In Women in Ancient Egypt twenty-four international scholars offer a corrective to this view by presenting the latest cutting-edge research on women and gender in ancient Egypt.Covering the entirety of Egyptian history, from earliest times to Late Antiquity, this volume commences with a thorough study of the earliest written evidence of Egyptian women, both royal and non-royal, before moving on to chapters that deal with various aspects of Egyptian queens, followed by studies on the legal status and economic roles of non-royal women and, finally, on women’s health and body adornment. Within this sweeping chronological range, each study is intensely focused on the evidence recovered from a particular site or a specific time-period. Rather than following a strictly chronological arrangement, the thematic organization of chapters enables readers to discern diachronic patterns of continuity and change within each group of women.· Clémentine Audouit, Paul Valery University, Montpellier, France· Anne Austin, University of Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri, USA· Mariam F. Ayad, The American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt· Romane Betbeze, Université de Genève, Switzerland, and Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL, France· Anke Ilona Blöbaum, Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany· Eva-Maria Engel, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany· Renate Fellinger, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK· Kathrin Gabler, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland· Rahel Glanzmann, independent scholar, Basel, Switzerland. · Izold Guegan, Swansea University, UK, and Sorbonne University, Paris, France· Fayza Haikal, The American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt· Janet H. Johnson, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Il, USA· Katarzyna Kapiec, Institute of the Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland· Susan Anne Kelly, Macquarie University Sydney, Sydney, Australia· AnneMarie Luijendijk, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA· Suzanne Onstine, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA· José Ramón Pérez-Accino Picatoste, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain· Tara Sewell-Lasater, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA· Yasmin El Shazly, American Research Center in Egypt, Cairo, Egypt· Reinert Skumsnes, Centre for Gender Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway· Isabel Stünkel, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA· Inmaculada Vivas Sainz, National Distance Education University), Madrid, Spain· Hana Vymazalová, Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, Czeck Republic· Jacquelyn Williamson, George Mason University, Fairfax, Viriginia, USA· Annik Wüthrich, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austrian Archaeological Institute, Vienna, Austria

Read more less

"Creativity in marketing communications is one of the most potent ways for companies to increase their productivity. This book contains case after case, which demonstrates the leveraging power of innovative thinking in advertising today." -Joseph E. DeDeo Chairman of Latin America,Young & Rubicam, Inc. The days of expensive network television rollouts of new advertising campaigns are over. Targeted, niche-driven selective marketing is less expensive, more profitable, and far more sensible in today's thriving culture of special-interest media. Here's your chance to learn all about this revolutionary new marketing strategy. Written by the advertising genius behind some of the most unforgettable campaigns of the past 30 years, Divide and Conquer teaches you what you need to know to conduct your own successful selective-marketing campaigns. Fifteen fascinating and instructive case studies demonstrate how to identify your markets precisely, get to know them inside and out, fashion a message that they'll hear and respond to, and find the perfect media mix to deliver your message. No matter what size company you work for, in Divide and Conquer you'll learn valuable lessons about how to find your customers, reach out to them, and forge profitable, long-term relationships with them. With the advent of cable TV, the Web, and other new platforms, media have become as diverse as the increasingly fragmented markets they serve -dangerous terrain for one-size-fits-all advertising. In the 1980s, a handful of visionaries began developing an alternative designed to take advantage of today's thriving culture of special-interest media. It's called selective marketing, and unlike mass-market advertising, it doesn't tell people what they want, it asks them. Selective marketing uses sophisticated intelligence-gathering techniques to pinpoint niche markets and learn all about them. It plies everything from print, TV, and radio, to Web technology, fax response, and even performance art to capture specific markets and forge lasting relationships with them. And it helps clients find the best ways to satisfy or surpass customer expectations. In Divide and Conquer, Harry Webber reveals the secrets behind this revolutionary new marketing strategy. The advertising genius behind such memorable campaigns as "I am stuck on Band-Aid," Webber clearly and concisely lays out basic selective-marketing principles and practices. With the help of 15 selective-marketing case studies, he demonstrates that any advertiser can use his proven techniques to identify markets, create the right message for a particular market, and develop the most effective media mix to deliver that message. Fascinating and instructive success stories, the case studies provide a unique insider's look at selective marketing in action. You'll learn how selective marketing was used to restore the investment community's faith in Ford; win the alternative adult market for Dr Pepper; entice baby boomers to Kentucky Fried Chicken; and even forge an alliance between the Crips and Bloods street gangs for the Los Angeles city attorney's office. Each case study presents concise descriptions of the target market, marketing challenge, selective-marketing solution, and outcome, and concludes with a quick summary of important selective-marketing lessons learned. Throughout the book, sidebars spell out key selective-marketing principles embodied by the case at hand. The first practical guide to the revolutionary marketing strategy that threatens to make mass marketing a thing of the past, Divide and Conquer is essential reading for marketing managers, entrepreneurs, and professionals working in small businesses, midsize companies, and large corporations.

Read more less

Southern California is the birthplace of skateboard culture and, even though skateparks may be found worldwide today, it is where these parks continue to flourish as architects, engineers and skateboarders collaborate to refine their designs. The artist Amir Zaki grew up skateboarding, so he has an understanding of these spaces and, as someone who has spent years photographing the built and natural landscape of California, he has a deep appreciation of the large concrete structures not only as sculptural forms, but also as significant features of the contemporary landscape, belonging to a tradition of architecture and public art. To capture the images in this book, Zaki photographed in the early-morning light, climbing inside the bowls and pipes while there were no skaters around. Each photograph is a composite of dozens of shots taken with a digital camera mounted on a motorized tripod head. The resulting images are incredibly high resolution and can be printed at a large scale with no loss of detail. Their look is unusual in that Zaki's lens is somewhat telephoto, which has the effect of flattening space, yet the angle of view is often quite wide, which exaggerates spatial depth. The technology also allows Zaki to photograph certain areas from difficult positions that would otherwise be impossible to capture. Zaki makes the point that, by climbing deep inside these spaces, the visual experience is fundamentally different from viewing them from outside. In his text, Tony Hawk - one of world's best-known professional skateboarders - describes how Zaki's photographs of empty skateparks and open skies evoke memories of the idyllic freedom and the sense of potential that he felt when he first visited a skatepark as a child and saw skaters flying like birds in and out of the concrete pools and bowls. Hawk has skated in some of the parks featured in this book, and for him several of Zaki's images, taken from the skater's perspective, recall the experience of trying to learn a particular trick. A beautiful full pipe that looks like a barrelling wave may be, for Hawk and other seasoned skateboarders, a perfect example of function and form fitting together flawlessly in a well-designed skatepark. In his essay, the Los Angeles-based architect Peter Zellner offers a different perspective. Skateparks are made by excavating large open areas of land within city parks. The forms inside them may represent ocean waves, mountainous terrain and other features from nature, but they are permanently frozen in cement like Brutalist architecture. Every shape, line, transition, hip, tombstone, coping, stair, flow, tile, bowl, pipe, spine, rail, ledge, roll-in, kidney, clover, square and bank serves a specific purpose - to provide a challenging thrill and maximum pleasure for the rider. In this sense, skateparks epitomize function over form. In Zaki's mesmerizing photographs, however, these concrete landscapes suggest a more complex and integrated relationship with the history of design and architecture in Southern California.

Read more less

The ultimate trip planner for every month of the year: discover the best places to visit throughout the seasons. Spark your curiosity with decision-making flowcharts to inspire your next unforgettable city break, tropical beach vacation, wildlife encounter and more - all organised by month with amazing weekend escapes, one and two week experiences.Sip lip-smacking beers and contemplate fine Flemish art in Bruges during February; enhance your wellbeing with a yoga retreat in Australia’s Byron Bay throughout June; cycle the USA’s Death Valley during the cooler month of November - and you’ll soon see just why each destination is so wonderful to be in at that exact moment. With so many inspiring month-by-month holiday recommendations, Where to Go When 2nd Edition offers travellers a lifetime of offbeat adventures and well-known wonders to pursue. Inside Where to Go When 2nd Edition- 25 destinations for each month of the year that cover every corner of the globe- Handy decision-making flowcharts to help you choose your next exciting getaway based on your travel passions and the activities that appeal to you the most- Special monthly events, festivals and celebrations calendar- Intuitive keys and colour coding that suggest ideal trip length: short break, one week, two weeks +- Amazing experiences for all interests: wildlife & nature, adventure, value, culture, journey, food & drink, personal growth, relaxation- Top budgeting tips in clear grids and diagrams so you can get the most out of your money- Super family friendly breaks and experiences plus suggestions on when to leave the kids at homeWhether you’re planning a bucket list break full of unique challenges or you’re looking to book a spontaneous long-weekend away on a tight budget, this indispensable travel guide will help you find your perfect adventure, whenever and wherever you want to go. Alternatively, gift Where to Go When 2nd Edition to the traveller in your life and set their wanderlust alight.About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet, a Red Ventures Company, is the world’s number one travel guidebook brand. Providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973, Lonely Planet reaches hundreds of millions of travellers each year online and in print and helps them unlock amazing experiences. Visit us at lonelyplanet.com and join our community of followers on Facebook (facebook.com/lonelyplanet), Twitter (@lonelyplanet), Instagram (instagram.com/lonelyplanet), and TikTok (@lonelyplanet)."Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world." – Fairfax Media (Australia)

Read more less

The outcome of a brutal war, which took place 1,885 years ago, continues to reverberate in the Near East today. It is a tale largely unknown outside Israel, and yet it helps explain why the region continues to be engulfed by strife. "As a historian I learned about the Bar Kokhba War, but the explanations for why and how it happened seemed confused," said historian and author Lindsay Powell. "As with King Arthur, fact and myth have become muddled. To establish the truth, I travelled across three continents. BAR KOKHBA: The Jew Who Defied Hadrian and Challenged the Might of Rome is the result." This amazing and consequential story involves an epic struggle between the two strong-willed leaders over who would rule a nation. One protagonist was Hadrian, the cosmopolitan ruler of the vast Roman Empire, then at its zenith, who some regarded as divine. He is best known today for the famous wall he built in northern Britain. The other was Shim'on, a Jewish military leader in a district of a minor province; some believed him to be the 'King Messiah' after sage Rabbi Akiba allegedly saw him fulfilling biblical prophecy and named him 'Bar Kokhba' ('Son of a Star'). It is also the tale of the clash of two ancient cultures. One was the conqueror, seeking to maintain control of its hard-won dominion they called Judaea; the other was the conquered, seeking to break free and establish a new nation. Shim'on called his new country Israel. Several causes for the war have been suggested, such as bans on circumcision or studying Torah which Powell evaluates in his book. Most likely it was the decision by Hadrian to rebuild then ruined Jerusalem as a pagan city for retired Roman soldiers. He called it Aelia Capitolina after his own family and the triad of Roman gods whose shrine may have been erected over the remains of the Second Temple. It may or may not have been Hadrian's intention, but the Jews took it as a direct insult. During the ensuing conflict - called the 'Second Jewish War' (AD 132-136) - the highly motivated Jewish militia sorely tested the highly trained - and normally invincible - professional Roman army. Powell said: "Amazingly, the Jewish rebels withstood the Roman onslaught for three-and-a-half years. They established an independent nation with its own administration led by Shim'on as its president (nasi). They minted their own coins by overstriking Roman coins with Jewish iconography, cheerfully obliterating the image of the emperor and pagan gods with every strike of the hammer." Found in caves in the Judaean Desert in the 1950s and 1960s, letters from Shim'on to his lieutenants survive revealing how deeply involved he was in day-to-day actions, and his increasing frustration with their laziness. For reasons Powell explains in his book, the Jews ultimately lost. In retribution, Hadrian expelled the Jews from Judea and barred them from entering Aelia Capitolina and its holy sites. He even changed the name of the Roman province to Syria Palaestina - the origin of Palestine. "The outcome of that David and Goliath contest was of great consequence, both for the people of Judaea and for Judaism itself," said Powell. "Centuries of bloodshed followed." In death, Bar Kokhba became a legend. Over the ages, this flawed rebel with a cause become a hero for the increasingly persecuted Jews in the Diaspora longing to found a new Jewish homeland. Across Europe in the early twentieth century, there were athletic teams competing in sports events under the moniker 'Bar Kochba' as part of a movement to create the image of the 'Muscular Jew'. The last games were held in Berlin in 1936, just two years before Kristallnacht. Eric H. Cline, Professor of Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies and Anthropology, George Washington University, writes in the foreword of the book: "There are a very limited number of people whose life, and death, still impact other centuries after they have shuffled off this mortal coil. There are fewer still who inspire entire movements, and migrations, such as the return to what is now modern Israel by the Zionists, after that same length of time." In the interwar years in Palestine, armed Jewish resistance groups championed Bar Kokhba as a figure of inspiration in their own struggle against the British and Palestinian Arabs to establish a new State of Israel; it finally came into being in 1948. Today modern Israelis still celebrate Bar Kokhba with bonfires and songs on the annual Lag B'Omer holiday. In researching his book, Powell went on a journey stretching from Hollywood to London, Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and Caesarea, and Herodium to Ein Gedi. He drew upon archaeology, art, coins, inscriptions, militaria, as well as secular and religious documents, to produce a compelling and complete account of the people and events at a crucial time in world history. Commenting on the new book, Cline said: "Let it be said that Powell's researches have resulted in an enthralling journey through history. It is a marvelous search for the man behind the myth, which is well worth reading. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did."

Read more less

Contemporary aesthetics is characterized by generic mixing on the level of both form and content. The barriers between different media and different genres have been broken down in all literary art forms, whether it be theatre, poetry, or the novel. While the publishing industry is increasingly keen to label novels according to genre or sub-genre (“Chick Lit”, “Lad Lit”, “Gay fiction”, “Scottish fiction”, “New Historical Fiction”, “Crime fiction”, “Post-9/11 Fiction”), the novel itself (and novelists) persist in resisting generic categorizations as well as inviting them. Is this a move towards a new artistic liberty or does it simply testify to a confusion of identity? The “aesthetic supermarket” evoked by Lodge in 1992 does indeed seem to sum up the variety of choices open to writers of fiction today and a literary landscape characterized by crossover and hybridization. The familiar dialectic of realism versus experimentation has segued into a middle ground of consensus which is neither radical nor populist, but both at the same time. The techniques of postmodernism have become selling points for novels, and the Postmodern Condition itself seems little more than a narrative posture marketed for an increasingly wide audience. Whether they have recourse to a “repertoire of imposture” (Amis, Self, Winterson), as Richard Bradford would have it (The Novel Now, 2007), in other words “the abandonment of any obligation to explain or justify their excursions from credulity and mimesis”, or, like the New Puritans, make use of narrative minimalism in order to foreground their own peculiarities, contemporary novelists consistently draw attention to the fundamental instability of narrative process and genre.The much-feared apocalypse of the novel has failed to take place with the arrival of the new millennium, but generic game-playing and flickering, narrative hesitation and uncertainty continue to pose the question of what constitutes a novel today and to challenge its identity in a world where all culture is increasingly public, increasingly contested and increasingly multifarious. Thanks to theoretical approaches as well as analyses of specific works, this collection of essays aims to examine the concepts of generic instability and cross-fertilization, of narrative postures and impostures, and their constant redefinition of identity, which contaminates the very concept of genre. It demonstrates the diversity of generic practices in the novel today and furnishes us with undeniable evidence of how generic instability is fundamentally constitutive of the contemporary novel’s identity.

Read more less

A rich and powerful exploration of desire, sin and redemption, by one of our best chroniclers of faith in the 21st century."I enjoyed it enormously. The story is so interesting, the theme so important and pertinent, and the fluency and lightness of touch so engaging to read" PHILIP PULLMAN"[Arditti] has given us a novel very much for our time, good enough to be for all time, too" The Scotsman"An engrossing, three-dimensional, grown-up narrative" ROWAN WILLIAMS"The perfect combination of matters ecclesiastical and artistic" Financial Times"Bursting with intellectual richness and joyously acidic dialogue" The Spectator"A compelling read" Observer" I loved this book for its lightness of touch about serious subjects and for dialogue that glitters like clashing rapiers" MIRANDA SEYMOUR"An intelligent and entertaining novel that handles lightly problems of great moral weight" GuardianAs a woman in the early 1980s, Clarissa Phipps is unable to pursue her priestly vocation. Instead, she joins the BBC, where she is sent to interview the artist Seward Wemlock about the panels he is painting for an ancient Cheshire church."A serious and important writer" ROSE TREMAIN"Arditti has delivered a complex moral fable with skill and aplomb" Mail on SundayThirty years on, now rector of that same church, she chances upon Brian, the chief bell-ringer and husband of her closest friend, fondling fifteen-year-old David. David claims they are in love, but Clarissa is obliged to act. Will she choose friendship or conscience, sympathy or her duty of care?The fallout from that choice forces her to reflect on past concerns over Wemlock's relationship with his teenage models. Had she heeded the whispers at the time, how many lives - her own included - would have turned out differently?The Choice is a rich and powerful exploration of desire, sin and redemption, questioning whether it's possible, let alone prudent, to separate the art from the artist, which reaches to the heart of the contemporary culture wars. Richly comic and deeply compassionate, it is a remarkable synthesis of the sacred and profane."At a time when British fiction has never been more timorous about tackling novels of ideas, Michael Arditti has produced one worthy of Iris Murdoch and Graham Greene. Brilliantly ambiguous, waspishly witty and thoroughly enjoyable, this is Michael Arditti's own masterpiece to date" AMANDA CRAIG

Read more less