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Culture and Resistance: Conversations with Edward W. Said
by Edward W. Said David BarsamianEdward W. Said discusses the centrality of popular resistance to his understanding of culture, history, and social change. He reveals his latest thoughts on the war on terrorism, the war in Afghanistan, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Culture in the Marketplace: Gender, Art, and Value in the American Southwest
by Molly MullinIn the early twentieth century, a group of elite East coast women turned to the American Southwest in search of an alternative to European-derived concepts of culture. In Culture in the Marketplace Molly H. Mullin provides a detailed narrative of the growing influence that this network of women had on the Native American art market--as well as the influence these activities had on them--in order to investigate the social construction of value and the history of American concepts of culture. Drawing on fiction, memoirs, journalistic accounts, and extensive interviews with artists, collectors, and dealers, Mullin shows how anthropological notions of culture were used to valorize Indian art and create a Southwest Indian art market. By turning their attention to Indian affairs and art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, she argues, these women escaped the gender restrictions of their eastern communities and found ways of bridging public and private spheres of influence. Tourism, in turn, became a means of furthering this cultural colonization. Mullin traces the development of aesthetic worth as it was influenced not only by politics and profit but also by gender, class, and regional identities, revealing how notions of "culture" and "authenticity" are fundamentally social ones. She also shows how many of the institutions that the early patrons helped to establish continue to play an important role in the contemporary market for American Indian art. This book will appeal to audiences in cultural anthropology, art history, American studies, women's studies, and cultural history.
Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies
by Michelle MalkinIn her shocking new book, Malkin goes where the mainstream media refuse to tread. She digs deep into the records of President Obama's staff, revealing corrupt dealings, questionable pasts, and abuses of power throughout his administration.
Cunero 12: Cinco Meses en la UCI Neonatales
by Jenny JaeckelCunero 12, la apasionante biografía de caricaturas de Jenny Jaeckel, describe los intensos detalles de una madre, una recién nacida, y una estancia de cinco meses en la Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos Neonatales (UCIN). Un rutinario examen prenatal revela un problema peligroso, y los padres se encuentran metidos en un mundo de los escapes por pelos, las noches sin sueño, y la crisis psicológica. Rodeados por discusiones, la muerte, las tensiones familiares y cuestiones de la fe, la madre lucha por mantener un estado de ánimo positivo.Dentro de la realidad mecánica y antiséptica de la UCIN, los dedicados profesionales de la salud se representan con amables (y a veces irónicos) animales. El Doctor Ojos y la enfermera Pañalsuave son dos de los profesionales que cuidan a la bebé Asa. Pero aun los mejores de los profesionales se equivocan, y Jaeckel y su esposo deben vigilar constantemente la situación. De vez en cuando luchan por no sentirse impotentes, pero su determinación, valentía, consciencia y conexión, en última instancia ayudan a mantener viva su pequeña. Spot 12 delivers the gritty details of a mother, a newborn, and a five-month stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in a visually gripping graphic memoir by Jenny Jaeckel. A routine prenatal exam reveals a dangerous problem, and first-time parents find themselves thrust into a world of close calls, sleepless nights, and psychological crisis. Surrounded by disagreements, deaths, extended family tensions, and questions of faith, the mother struggles to maintain a positive frame of mind. Against the antiseptic, mechanical reality of the NICU, the dedicated health professionals are drawn as sympathetic and wry animal characters. Doctor Eyes and Nurse Gentle Diaper are two of the care providers that do all they can to take care of Baby Asa. But even the best hospital staff make mistakes, and Jaeckel and her husband's vigilance must be acute. At times they battle feelings of helplessness, but their determination, insight, bravery, and connection ultimately helps keep their little one alive.
Cup Countdown! (Sam Kerr: Kicking Goals #5)
by Fiona Harris Sam KerrAustralian Matildas and World Cup superstar Sam Kerr teams up with Aki Fukuoka to bring young readers this fun and inspiring illustrated series about soccer, school, sport, friendship, dealing with bullies and following your dreams. The 2006 World Cup is around the corner and thirteen-year-old Sam Kerr is pumped! Even though the games are being played on the other side of the world, Sam and her best friend, Dylan, are planning to get up early to watch the games live on TV. They couldn&’t be more excited! But there&’s more for Sam to get excited about when she&’s invited to trial for a rep soccer team; the coach of the team has seen Sam play and is blown away by how good she is. Sam is thrilled when she gets into the team, then she realises she has to juggle training with the Knights AND with her new rep team. And when her mum and dad organise a family holiday interstate it looks like Sam might have to miss out because of her new timetable. Sam starts to question if she&’s really ready for the big time. Will watching the World Cup convince her that she wants to play in the rep team, or will the juggle of school, training and games all become too much for a girl who has just started high school? &‘A fun book packed with cool illustrations. It follows themes of family and perseverance that will totes leave you feeling inspired!&’ Total Girl on The Flip Out
Cupboards of Curiosity: Women, Recollection, and Film History
by Amelie HastieIn Cupboards of Curiosity Amelie Hastie rethinks female authorship within film history by expanding the historical archive to include dollhouses, scrapbooks, memoirs, cookbooks, and ephemera. Focusing on women who worked during the silent-film era, Hastie reveals how female stars, directors, and others appropriated personal or "domestic" cultural forms not only to publicize their own achievements but also to reflect on specific films and the broader film industry. Whether considering Colleen Moore's thirty-six scrapbooks or Dietrich's eccentric book Marlene Dietrich's ABC, Hastie emphasizes how these women spoke for themselves--as collectors, historians, critics, and experts--often explicitly contemplating the role their writings and material objects would play in subsequent constructions of history.Hastie pays particular attention to the actresses Colleen Moore and Louise Brooks and Hollywood's first female director, Alice Guy-Blaché. From the beginning of her career, Moore worked intently to preserve a lasting place for herself as a Hollywood star, amassing collections of photos, souvenirs, and clippings as well as a dollhouse so elaborate that it drew extensive public attention. Brooks's short essays reveal how she participated in the creation of her image as Lulu and later emerged as a critic of film stardom. The recovery of Blaché's role in film history by feminist critics in the 1970s and 1980s was made possible by the existence of the director's own autobiographical history. Broadening her analytical framework to include contemporary celebrities, Hastie turns to how-to manuals authored by female stars, from Zasu Pitts's cookbook Candy Hits to Christy Turlington's Living Yoga. She discusses how these assertions of celebrity expertise in realms seemingly unrelated to film and visual culture allow fans to prolong their experience of stardom.
Cups Up: How I Organized a Klavern, Plotted a Coup, Survived Prison, Graduated College, Fought Polluters, and Started a Business (Willie Morris Books in Memoir and Biography)
by George T. MalvaneyGeorge T. Malvaney's life epitomizes the old maxim that "You cannot make this stuff up." Combine a young Klansman from Mississippi, an armed coup attempt in the Caribbean, a stay in prison, and a life-changing epiphany, and you have but half of this swashbuckling tale. Throw in the worst man-made ecological disaster in the history of the United States, and you have unleashed Malvaney's full life story. The Klansman, the soldier of fortune, the wild-eyed prisoner transforms into a renowned leader of the Mississippi Gulf Coast cleanup effort in the wake of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.In his too-crazy-not-to-be-true memoir, Malvaney chronicles what easily should be several lifetimes of adventure--and misadventure. Growing up in a close-knit family in Jackson, Mississippi, the young Malvaney preferred woods and swamps to the drudgery of high school. He dropped out, enlisted in the Navy, and shortly afterwards joined the Ku Klux Klan. While onboard, he organized a branch of the Klan, corrupting and endangering his crewmen. After his discharge, he answered a mercenary call to take part in an invasion of Dominica, a Caribbean fiasco known as the "Bayou of Pigs." That madness landed him in a federal penitentiary. And there, somehow, he vowed to turn his life around.Cups Up, a title drawn from the wake-up call shouted at prisoners, is a story of perseverance, cleansing, and redemption. It chronicles the roller coaster life of a high school dropout, ex-Klansman, ex-mercenary, ex-felon, and ex-con, who went on to become a college graduate, a hardnosed environmental regulator, and a widely respected top executive in a company with more than a thousand employees.
Curandero: A Life in Mexican Folk Healing
by Torres Eliseo “Cheo” Timothy L. SawyerEliseo Torres, known as Cheo, grew up in the Corpus Christi area of Texas and knew, firsthand, the Mexican folk healing practiced in his home and neighborhood. Later in life, he wanted to know more about the plants and rituals of curanderismo. Torres's story begins with his experiences in the Mexican town of Espinazo, the home of the great curandero El Niño Fidencio (1899-1939), where Torres underwent life-changing spiritual experiences. He introduces us to some of the major figures in the tradition, discusses some of the pitfalls of teaching curanderismo, and concludes with an account of a class he taught in which curanderos from Cuernavaca, Mexico, shared their knowledge with students.Part personal pilgrimage, part compendium of medical knowledge, this moving book reveals curanderismo as both a contemplative and a medical practice that can offer new approaches to ancient problems.From Curandero . . . for centuries, rattlesnakes were eaten to prevent any number of conditions and illnesses, including arthritis and rheumatism. In Mexico and in other Latin American countries, rattlesnake meat is actually sold in capsule form to treat impotence and even to treat cancer. Rattlesnake meat is also dried and ground and sprinkled into open wounds and body sores to heal them, and a rattlesnake ointment is made that is applied to aches and pains as well.
Curas villeros: De Mugica al Padre Pepe. Historias de lucha y esperanza (Prólogo del Padre Pepe)
by Silvina PrematLa crónica más impresionante jamás escrita sobre la vida y la obra delos jóvenes que forman el «Equipo de sacerdotes para las villas deemergencia». Su trabajo pastoral, social, cultural y material como nuncaantes se contó. El Papa Francisco -en ese momento Cardenal JorgeBergoglio- desde finales de los años 90 ha impulsado el trabajo socialde los curas en las villas para asegurar una presencia mayor de laIglesia entre los más humildes, al punto de que se duplicó en lasúltimas décadas la cantidad de sacerdotes que integran elequipo de curas villeros.Silvina Premat entrevistó a diecisiete curas y narra aquí la forma enque trabajan. Son en general jóvenes que decidieron no solotrabajar con la gente de las villas sino directamente vivir con ellos sucotidianeidad y, desde allí, comprender mejor sus necesidades paraayudarlos tanto en lo material como en lo espiritual.La tarea que realizan diariamente estos padres es impresionante y, aúnasí, dista mucho de aliviar la cruda realidad que se vive en las villas:la falta de servicios (agua, cloacas), de educación, de trabajo, deincentivos para la autosuperación tanto en niños como en jóvenes,adultos o ancianos. Sin embargo, estos curas no cejan en sus esfuerzospor generar escuelas, trabajos, deportes, fiestas religiosas, contenciónde todo tipo, tareas de prevención y de tratamiento de los jóvenesacosados por la droga, etc. Este libro recoge sus vidas, sus testimoniosy los de la gente que los rodea, su condición de herederos ycontinuadores de la obra de Cristo con los pobres, y nos instala delleno en una realidad muy cruda, que sabemos que existe pero que noconocíamos, hasta ahora, en toda su real dimensión.Son historias muy duras, escalofriantes, pero también las hay degrandes satisfacciones. Nadie saldrá indemne de la lectura de «Curasvilleros», un libro destinado a sacudir corazones celebrando las proezasy alegrías posibles aun en las circunstancias más extremas.
Curators: Behind the Scenes of Natural History Museums
by Lance GrandeOver the centuries, natural history museums have evolved from being little more than musty repositories of stuffed animals and pinned bugs, to being crucial generators of new scientific knowledge. They have also become vibrant educational centers, full of engaging exhibits that share those discoveries with students and an enthusiastic general public. At the heart of it all from the very start have been curators. Yet after three decades as a natural history curator, Lance Grande found that he still had to explain to people what he does. This book is the answer—and, oh, what an answer it is: lively, exciting, up-to-date, it offers a portrait of curators and their research like none we’ve seen, one that conveys the intellectual excitement and the educational and social value of curation. Grande uses the personal story of his own career—most of it spent at Chicago’s storied Field Museum—to structure his account as he explores the value of research and collections, the importance of public engagement, changing ecological and ethical considerations, and the impact of rapidly improving technology. Throughout, we are guided by Grande’s keen sense of mission, of a job where the why is always as important as the what. This beautifully written and richly illustrated book is a clear-eyed but loving account of natural history museums, their curators, and their ever-expanding roles in the twenty-first century.
Curbing It: Carrying the Weight of the World
by Jeff GarlinNow in paperback from comedian and actor Jeff Garlin--who plays Larry David's cheerful manager on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm--a year-long chronicle of his journey to reduce both his physical and carbon footprint in this laugh-out-loud self-experimental memoir. Jeff Garlin has dedicated the filming of an entire season of Curb Your Enthusiasm to completely making over his lifestyle in two major ways--by losing weight and going green. Larry David's rooting for him. Jerry Seinfeld's plotting against him. And his wife is just plain annoyed by everything. The hardest part of the endeavor is overcoming his food addiction--especially when craft service has a constant buffet of everything delicious you could imagine. In addition to cutting calories, Jeff accidentally falls into a love affair with pilates, sweats with Richard Simmons, and twice visits the Pritikin Longevity Center, which he says is "rehab for people who eat too much pizza." As far as going green, Jeff has always been a big recycler, but he has a lot to learn. For example, actor Ed Begley Jr. is the guy to call if you want to reduce your environmental impact. Jeff does, and it changes everything. Hysterical, entertaining, and eye-opening, Curbing It is a comedic memoir that's not to be missed.
Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic
by Pamela WeintraubThis history of Lyme disease is “a tale of biological complexities, scientific turf battles, political intrigue, human egos, and money—lots of it” (Sacramento Bee).Winner, American Medical Writers Association Book AwardWhen Pamela Weintraub, a science journalist, learned that her oldest son tested positive for Lyme disease, she thought she had found an answer to the symptoms that had been plaguing her family for years—but her nightmare had just begun. Almost everything about Lyme disease turned out to be deeply controversial, from the microbe causing the infection to the length and type of treatment and the kind of practitioner needed.On one side of the fight, the scientists who first studied Lyme describe a disease transmitted by a deer tick that is hard to catch but easy to cure no matter how advanced the case. On the other side, rebel doctors insist that Lyme and a soup of “co-infections” cause a complicated spectrum of illness often dramatically different—and far more difficult to treat—than the original researchers claim. Instead of just swollen knees and a rash, patients can experience exhaustion, disabling pain, and a “Lyme fog” that leaves them dazed and confused. As patients struggle for answers, once-treatable infections become chronic.In this nuanced picture of the intense controversy and crippling uncertainty surrounding Lyme disease, Pamela Weintraub sheds light on one of the angriest medical disputes raging today. The most comprehensive book ever written about the past, present, and future of Lyme disease, Cure Unknown exposes the ticking clock of a raging epidemic and the vulnerability we all share.Revised with a new chapter“A thoroughly researched and well-written account of the disease’s controversial history.” —Jane Brody, The New York Times“A comprehensive and compassionate guide to a dreaded illness named after a bucolic, tick-infested town on Long Island Sound.” —Hartford Courant
Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys
by Lol Tolhurst"On our first day of school, Robert and I stood at the designated stop at Hevers Avenue with our mothers, and that's when we met for the very first time. We were five years old."So began a lifelong friendship that fourteen years later would result in the formation of The Cure, a quintessential post-punk band whose albums-such as Three Imaginary Boys, Pornography, and Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me-remain among the best-loved and most influential of all time.As two of the first punks in the provincial English town of Crawley, Lol Tolhurst and Robert Smith didn't have it easy. Outsiders from the start, theirs was a friendship based initially on proximity and a shared love of music, from the punk that was raging in nearby London to the groundbreaking experimentation of David Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy." First known as The Easy Cure, they began playing in pubs and soon developed their own unique style and approach to songwriting, resulting in timeless songs that sparked a deep sense of identification and empathy in listeners, songs like "Boys Don't Cry," "Just Like Heaven," and "Why Can't I Be You?," spearheading a new subculture dubbed "Goth" by the press. The music of The Cure was not only accessible but also deeply subversive, challenging conventional notions of pop music and gender roles while inspiring a generation of devoted fans and a revolution in style.Cured is not only the first insider account of the early days of the band, it is a revealing look at the artistic evolution of the enigmatic Robert Smith, the iconic lead singer, songwriter, and innovative guitarist at the heart of The Cure. A deeply rebellious, sensitive, tough, and often surprisingly "normal" young man, Smith was from the start destined for stardom, a fearless non-conformist and provocateur who soon found his own musical language through which to express his considerable and unique talent.But there was also a dark side to The Cure's intense and bewildering success. Tolhurst, on drums and keyboards, was nursing a growing alcoholism that would destroy his place in The Cure and nearly end his life. Cured tells the harrowing and unforgettable story of his crash-and-burn, recovery, and rebirth.Intensely lyrical and evocative, gripping and unforgettable, Cured is the definitive story of a singular band whose legacy endures many decades hence, told from the point of view of a participant and eyewitness who was there when it happened-and even before it all began.
Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys
by Lol TolhurstThe inside story of The Cure'Beautifully realised' Irish TimesComing of age in Thatcher's Britain in the late 70s and early 80s was really tough, especially if you lived in Crawley. But against the grinding austerity, social unrest and suburban boredom, the spark of rebellion that was punk set alight three young men who would become one of the most revered and successful bands of their generation. The Cure.Cured is a memoir by Lol Tolhurst, one of the founding imaginary boys, who met Robert Smith when they were five. Lol threads the genesis of The Cure through his schoolboy years with Smith, the iconic leader of the group, and the band's most successful era in the 1980s. He takes us up to the present day, a riveting forty years since the band's inception.The band's journey to worldwide success is woven into a story not only of great highs and lows but also of love, friendship, pain, forgiveness and, ultimately, redemption on a beach in Hawaii.Cured highlights those parts of the creative journey that are not normally revealed to fans, incorporating many first-hand recollections around Lol's personal odyssey. From suburban London to the Mojave desert, Cured brings an acute eye for the times to bear on a lifelong friendship, with tales of addiction and despair along the way. Cured is the story of a timeless band and a life truly lived.
Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys
by Lol TolhurstComing of age in Thatcher's Britain in the late 70s and early 80s was really tough, especially if you lived in Crawley. But against the grinding austerity, social unrest and suburban boredom, the spark of rebellion that was punk set alight three young men who would become one of the most revered and successful bands of their generation. The Cure.Cured is a memoir by Lol Tolhurst, one of the founding imaginary boys, who met Robert Smith when they were six. Lol threads the genesis of The Cure through his schoolboy years with Smith, the iconic leader of the group, and the band's most successful era in the 1980s. He takes us up to the present day, a riveting forty years since the band's inception.The band's journey to worldwide success is woven into a story not only of great highs and lows but also of love, friendship, pain, forgiveness and, ultimately, redemption on a beach in Hawaii.Cured highlights those parts of the creative journey that are not normally revealed to fans, incorporating many first-hand recollections around Lol's personal odyssey. From suburban London to the Mojave desert, Cured brings an acute eye for the times to bear on a lifelong friendship, with tales of addiction and despair along the way. Cured is the story of a timeless band and a life truly lived.
Curepedia: An A-Z of The Cure
by Simon PriceThe Cure are arguably the biggest alternative rock band in the world. Between 1985 and 2000 every album they released went to at least Gold in the UK, the US or both. In America they have earned four Platinum albums, and they are estimated to have sold 30 million albums worldwide. Their iconic status as elder statesmen of Alternative Rock remains undiminished - if anything, their tireless touring has ensured that it has grown with every passing year - and lead singer Robert Smith is an endlessly fascinating figure to successive generations of fans. The Cure's influence reverberates through genres including Emo, Goth, Industrial and Indie Rock.The book is an encyclopaedic A-Z of The Cure examining and riffing on miscellaneous trivia, biographies of the band members past and present, summaries of each album and selected songs, details of the band's various tours and films, and essays on broader topics such as their image, their politics and their influences. Playful, eccentric and irreverent - true to the spirit of the band itself - CUREPEDIA is a comprehensive biography of one of the biggest alternative rock bands in the world. The hardback edition features interior pages printed in red and black ink, a ribbon marker, and bespoke C-U-R-E letter endpapers specially designed by Andy Vella - celebrated artist and collaborator (as part of Parched Art) with The Cure on their album artwork for four decades.
Curepedia: The A–Z of The Cure
by Simon PriceA definitive and truly unique visual biography of Robert Smith and company, The Cure, chronicling their 40+ year history with hundreds of entries in A to Z fashion. With illustrations by Andy Vella, longtime Cure visual artist.The Cure remain, 40 years into their career, one of the biggest rock bands in the world. With 12 studio albums, tours that pack stadiums all over the world—including 65,000 in Hyde Park for their 40th Anniversary show in 2019 and three sold out nights in a row the last time they played Madison Square Garden, they were the first alternative band to be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame—in 2019 by Trent Reznor. Their influence is heard in bands as wide ranging as Chvrches to Interpol to My Chemical Romance. Curepedia is a full-scale look at the long list of band members, current and past, trivia, tours, summaries of every album, song, films, as well as essays on the image of the band, their influence, their style, and their enduring legacy. Organized in an easy to follow A–Z format, including photos and illustrations from longtime visual collaborator Andy Vella, this will be the perfect introduction for new fans, and a must-have for the obsessive as well.
Cures for Hunger: A Memoir
by Deni Ellis BéchardA “poignant but rigorously unsentimental” memoir of one man’s search for the truth about his father’s dark past, and how it shaped his own life (Kirkus Reviews).Growing up in rural British Columbia, Deni Béchard had no idea his family was extraordinary. He took pleasure in typical boyish activities: salmon fishing with his father, a daring man with a penchant for brawling, and reading with his mother, who was interested in health food and the otherworldly.Assigned to complete a family tree in school, Deni begins to wonder why he doesn’t know more about his father’s side of the family. His mother is from Pittsburgh, and there’s a vague sense that his father is from Quebec, but why the mystery? When his mother leaves Deni’s father and decamps with her children to Virginia, his curiosity only grows. Who is this man, why do the police seem so interested in him, and why is his mother so afraid of him? And when his mother begrudgingly tells Deni that his father was once a bank robber, his imagination is set on fire. Boyish rebelliousness soon gives way to fantasies of a life of crime, and a deep drive for experience leads him to a number of adventures: hitching to Memphis and stealing a motorcycle; fighting classmates and kissing girls.Before long, young Deni is imagining himself as a character in one of his father’s stories, or in the novels he devours. Both attracted and repelled, Deni can’t escape the sense that his father’s life holds the key to understanding himself. Eventually he moves back to Canada, only to find himself snared in the controlling impulses of his mysterious father, and increasingly obsessed by his father’s own muted recollections of the Quebecois childhood he’d fled long ago.“Powerful and haunting . . . a must-read for anyone who has ever struggled to uncover their identity within the shadow of a parent.” —Claire Bidwell Smith, author of The Rules of Inheritance“Cures for Hunger is a poignant adventure story with a mystery . . . But it is also, perhaps even more so, the story of an artist coming of age.” —The Plain Dealer“This darkly comic and lyrical memoir demonstrates the shaping of its author, who suffers the wreckage of his father’s life, yet manages to salvage all the beauty of its desperate freedoms. Béchard’s poetic gifts give voice to the outsiders of society, and make them glow with humanity and love.” —Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Portable Veblen
Curfewed Night: One Kashmiri Journalist's Frontline Account of Life, Love, and War in His Homeland
by Basharat PeerBasharat Peer's powerful memoir about growing up in war-torn Kashmir.
Curiosity
by Alberto ManguelCuriosity has been seen through the ages as the impulse that drives our knowledge forward and the temptation that leads us toward dangerous and forbidden waters. The question "Why?" has appeared under a multiplicity of guises and in vastly different contexts throughout the chapters of human history. Why does evil exist? What is beauty? How does language inform us? What defines our identity? What is our responsibility to the world? In Alberto Manguel's most personal book to date, the author tracks his own life of curiosity through the reading that has mapped his way. Manguel chooses as his guides a selection of writers who sparked his imagination. He dedicates each chapter to a single thinker, scientist, artist, or other figure who demonstrated in a fresh way how to ask "Why?" Leading us through a full gallery of inquisitives, among them Thomas Aquinas, David Hume, Lewis Carroll, Rachel Carson, Socrates, and, most importantly, Dante, Manguel affirms how deeply connected our curiosity is to the readings that most astonish us, and how essential to the soaring of our own imaginations.
Curiosity Of School,The
by Zander ShermanIt's one thing we all have in common. We've all been to school. But as Zander Sherman shows in this fascinating, often shocking account of institutionalized education, sending your kids off to school was not always normal. In fact, school is a very recent invention. Taking the reader back to 19th-century Prussia, where generals, worried about soldiers' troubling individuality, sought a way to standardize every young man of military age, through to the most controversial debates that swirl around the world about the topic of education today, Sherman tells the often astonishing stories of the men and women-and corporations-that have defined what we have come to think of as both the privilege and the responsibility of being educated. Along the way, we discover that the SAT was invented as an intelligence test designed to allow the state to sterilize "imbeciles," that suicide in the wake of disappointing results in the state university placement exams is the fifth leading cause of death in China, and that commercialized higher education seduces students into debt as cynically as credit card companies do. Provocative, entertaining-and even educational-The Curiosity of School lays bare the forces that shape the institution that shapes all of us.
Curious About the White House (Smithsonian)
by Kate WatersCome on into America's most famous home! Everybody knows the building at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It's the White House, home to US presidents, first ladies, first children, and even first pets! But aren't you curious: why is the house white (and how many gallons of paint keep it that way)? Who built the place? How many rooms are in there and what are they used for? Where does the president work? Where does the first family live? Is there really a bowling alley in the White House? The lively text and interesting photographs in this fact-filled 8 x 8 will answer all these questions and more about daily life in the most famous house in America.
Curious Life of Nevada's LaVere Redfield, The: The Silver Dollar King
by Jack HarpsterLaVere Redfield was a prolific hoarder. When he died in 1974, his estate was estimated at more than $70 million. Executors found 680 bags of silver coins and 407,000 Morgan and Peace silver dollars in his Reno mansion. A local Reno legend, Redfield gambled regularly in Virginia Street casinos. He survived robbery and burglaries of his home, which contained false walls to store millions of silver dollars. Hating banks and paper money, as well as big government, Redfield opted to serve a prison term for income tax evasion rather than pay his debts from his ample fortune. Join author Jack Harpster for this first book-length study of this unconventional man behind the folklore and the myth.
Curious Minds: How a Child Becomes a Scientist
by John BrockmanA fascinating collection of essays from twenty-seven of the world's most interesting scientists about the moments and events in their childhoods that set them on the paths that would define their lives. What makes a child decide to become a scientist? *For Robert Sapolsky--Stanford professor of biology--it was an argument with a rabbi over a passage in the Bible. *Physicist Lee Smolin traces his inspiration to the volume of Einstein's work he picked up as a diversion from heartbreak. *Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist and the author of Flow, found his calling through Descartes. *Mary Catherine Bateson--author of Composing a Life--discovered that she wanted to be an anthropologist while studying Hebrew. *Janna Levin--author of How the Universe Got Its Spots--felt impelled by the work of Carl Sagan to know more. Murray Gell-Mann, Nicholas Humphrey, Freeman Dyson, Daniel C. Dennett, Lynn Margulis, V. S. Ramachandran, Howard Gardner, Richard Dawkins, and more than a dozen others tell their own entertaining and often inspiring stories of the deciding moment. Illuminating memoir meets superb science writing in essays that invite us to consider what it is--and isn't--that sets the scientific mind apart and into action.
Curious Scotland: Tales from a Hidden History
by George RosieScottish history isn't just about Robert Burns and Braveheart. In fact, it's far more complex than some might think. In Curious Scotland, journalist George Rosie digs deep into Scotland's past, unearthing some of the lesser known, but more surprising details, including: Who was behind the military's "Operation Vegetarian"? What Became of the Glasgow Frankenstein? Why do Scots always spit on a certain Edinburgh street? And how did John Ross become the greatest Cherokee chieftain? Rosie answers these and other questions, illuminating corners of Scottish lore that have never been explored before. With a dry wit and unflagging curiosity, he shows us that Scotland's history is full of far stranger stuff than your average plate of haggis. Learn about the Scottish connection with the Cherokee Nation where all of the land was sacred and selling it without permission was punishable by death. Discover that Daniel De Foe, author of Robinson crusoe, lived in Scotland as a British spy. Meet the highly educated Doctor Archie Cameron, who had treated both Scottish and British soldiers at the battle at Culloden and was executed unnecessarily years later. In chapters ranging from 3 to 20 pages long, he explains how witches were found, tried and executed and how Jonathan Swift incessantly wrote nasty remarks about Scottish people in the margins of his manuscripts. This fast paced, intriguing book will appeal to general readers and history buffs alike.