The Story of Art, by Ernst Gombrich (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Gombrich), is a survey of the history of art from ancient times to the modern era. First published in 1950, the book is widely regarded both as a seminal work of criticism, and as one of the most accessible introductions to the visual arts. It was originally intended […]
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This book (published 2013) about nothing sounds like a plain oxymoron. However, there are fascinating possibilities in the concepts of emptiness and non-existence. Scientists have suspected for centuries that ‘nothing’ may be the key to understanding absolutely everything, from why particles have mass to the expansion of the universe – so without nothing we’d be precisely nowhere. Absolute zero (the coldest
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In 1929 Robert Graves (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Graves) went to live abroad permanently, vowing ‘never to make England my home again’. This is his superb account of his life up until that ‘bitter leave-taking’: from his childhood and desperately unhappy school days at Charterhouse, to his time serving as a young officer in the First World War that was
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In 1945 fifty-two papyrus texts, including gospels and other secret documents, were found by a local farmer named Mohammed al-Samman near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi. They were concealed in an earthenware jar. These so-called ‘Gnostic’ writings were Coptic translations from the original Greek dating from the time of the New Testament and
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In this book from 1961 Lewis Mumford (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Mumford) argues for a world not in which technology reigns, but rather in which it achieves a balance with nature. His ideal vision is what can be described as an ‘organic city’, where culture is not usurped by technological innovation but rather thrives with it. Mumford contrasts these cities with
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No Logo (1999) by Naomi Klein (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Klein and http://www.naomiklein.org/main) employs journalistic savvy and personal testament to detail the insidious practices and far-reaching effects of corporate marketing. It also looks at the powerful potential of a growing activist sect that may alter the course of the 21st century. First published before the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, this is an infuriating, inspiring,
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Barely two hundred and fifty years ago a man condemned of attempting to assassinate the King of France was drawn and quartered in a grisly spectacle that suggested an unmediated duel between the violence of the criminal and the violence of the state. This groundbreaking book by the most influential French philosopher since Sartre compels us
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Almost a decade in the making by Tony Judt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Judt), this much-anticipated grand history of postwar Europe from one of the world’s most esteemed historians and intellectuals is a singular achievement. Postwar (2005) is the first modern history that covers all of Europe, both east and west, drawing on research in six languages to sweep
Hidden Agendas (1998) is one of John Pilger’s (http://johnpilger.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Pilger) most substantial and challenging books. It strips away the layers of deception, dissembling language and omission that prevent us from understanding how the world really works. From the invisible corners of Tony Blair’s New Britain to Burma, Vietnam, Australia and South Africa, Pilger unravels the
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