Aesthetics

In The Architecture of Happiness, bestselling author Alain de Botton explores one of our most intense but often hidden love affairs: with our houses and their furnishings. He asks: What makes a house truly beautiful? Why are many new houses so ugly? Why do we argue so bitterly ab...out sofas and pictures - and can differences of taste ever be satisfactorily resolved? To answer these questions and many more, de Botton looks at buildings across the world, from medieval wooden huts to modern skyscrapers; he examines sofas and cathedrals, tea sets and office complexes, and teases out a host of often surprising philosophical insights. The Architecture of Happiness will take you on a beguiling tour through the history and psychology of architecture and interior design, and will change the way you look at your home. 'Entertaining, stimulating and witty. Clever, provocative and fresh as a daisy.' Literary Review 'De Botton's writing is elegant but utterly accessible . . . beautifully written and thought provoking . . . will make you look at your surroundings in a whole new way.' Image 'De Botton is a brave and highly intelligent writer.' Observer 'De Botton makes even the most challenging of subjects invitingly simple.' Eve 'A powerful eye-opener.' Mail on Sunday
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For any artist, entrepreneur, or visionary who feels stuck, Seth Godin has a simple answer: commit to the practice. In this revolutionary little book, Seth Godin will turn your assumptions about the creative process upside down and help you to look at the world from a different a...ngle. You will recognize your work for what it is: an act of generosity and a way to make change, as well as what it can never be, something that will make everyone happy. The Practice will help you dance with your fear, take the risks worth taking and embrace the empathy required to make work that connects with others. This breakthrough book will show you a path forward, encourage intent in every facet of your work and help you seek out constraints. You'll walk away with practical strategies for overpowering the naysayers, radically trusting your own voice and finally doing the work you were put on this earth to do.
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A compelling guide to the fundamental place of humour and comedy within Western culture-by one of its greatest exponents

Elaborating the history, variety, pervasiveness, and function of the adornments and ornaments with which we beautify ourselves, this book takes in human prehistory, ancient civilizations, hunter-foragers, and present-day industrial societies to tell a captivating story of hair, s...kin, and make-up practices across times and cultures. From the decline of the hat, the function of jewelry and popularity of tattooing to the wealth of grave goods found in the Upper Paleolithic burials and body painting of the Nuba, we see that there is no one who does not adorn themselves, their possessions, or their environment. But what messages do these adornments send? Drawing on aesthetics, evolutionary history, archaeology, ethology, anthropology, psychology, cultural history, and gender studies, Stephen Davies brings together African, Australian and North and South American indigenous cultures and unites them around the theme of adornment. He shows us that adorning is one of the few social behaviors that is close to being genuinely universal, more typical and extensive than the high-minded activities we prefer to think of as marking our species - religion, morality, and art. Each chapter shows how modes of decoration send vitally important signals about what we care about, our affiliations and backgrounds, our social status and values. In short, by using the theme of bodily adornment to unify a very diverse set of human practices, this book tells us about who we are.
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Disagreement is common: even informed, intelligent, and generally reasonable people often come to different conclusions when confronted with what seems to be the same evidence. Can the competing conclusions be reasonable? If not, what can we reasonably think about the situation? ...This is the first book on the epistemology of disagreement.
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