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Disturbance: Surviving Charlie Hebdo
by Philippe LançonIn this Prix Femina–winning memoir, a writer at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo recounts surviving the deadly terror attack on their office. On January 7, 2015, two terrorists claiming allegiance to ISIS attack the Paris office of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. The event causes untold pain to the victims and their families, prompts a global solidarity movement, and ignites a fierce debate over press freedoms and the role of satire today. Philippe Lançon, a journalist, author, and a weekly contributor to Charlie Hebdo is gravely wounded in the attack—an experience that upends his relationship to the world. As Lançon attempts to reconstruct his life on the page, he rereads Proust, Thomas Mann, Kafka, and others in search of guidance. It is a year before he can return to writing, a year in which he learns to work through his experiences and their aftermath. Disturbance is not an essay on terrorism nor is it a witness&’s account of Charlie Hebdo. It is an honest, intimate account of a man seeking to put his life back together after it has been torn apart. &“A powerful and deeply civilized memoir.&” —The New York Times
Disturbing the Peace: A Conversation with Karel Huizdala
by Václav Havel Paul WilsonA book-length interview with Vaclav Havel giving an intimate history of Czechoslovakia under communism; a meditation on the social and political role of art, and a triumphant statement of the values underlying all the recent revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe.
Disturbing the Universe
by Freeman DysonWhile the focus of this book is a biography of the physicist Freeman Dyson up till about 1980, the side stories and range of people and projects he became involved in make this book a galaxy spanning story. From analyzing British bomber activity in WW II to meeting Hans Bethe and Richard Feynman when he was just trying to figure out what he wanted as a career, to helping design a nuclear starship to work on nuclear arms control, to the intersection of physics and biology, along with the poetry and stories that inspired him and the activities of his own family, the story expands to fill an amazing volume.
Ditka: The Player, The Coach, The Chicago Bears Legend
by Chicago TribuneA hard-hitting look at the Chicago Bears&’ legendary player and coach, composed of carefully curated archival Chicago Tribune columns and features. Mike Ditka was drafted by the Bears as a tight end in 1961 and went on to earn Rookie of the Year honors, multiple Pro Bowl selections, and a 1963 championship ring with Chicago during his playing career. Ditka retired in 1972 after stints with Philadelphia and Dallas (where he won Super Bowl VI), but he returned to Chicago as head coach in 1982. He became symbolic of the tough, hard-nosed, hyper-competitive style that defined the Bears through the &’80s. Following the 1985 Bears&’ unforgettable season and Super Bowl victory, Ditka was enshrined as a hero in the minds of Bears fans everywhere.Ditka will take readers on a fascinating and entertaining ride through the words of the award-winning Chicago Tribune journalists who covered &“Iron Mike&” for six decades. From his playing career to his coaching career, from personal triumphs to mishaps and scandals, Ditka is the ultimate fans&’ guide to the career and life of a Hall of Famer who came to define Chicago football in the modern age.
Diva: A Novel
by null Daisy GoodwinNew York Times bestselling author Daisy Goodwin returns with a story of the scandalous love affair between the most celebrated opera singer of all time and one of the richest men in the world.In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas was known simply as la divina: the divine one. With her glorious voice, instinctive flair for the dramatic and striking beauty, she was the toast of the grandest opera houses in the world. But her fame was hard won: raised in Nazi-occupied Greece by a mother who mercilessly exploited her golden voice, she learned early in life to protect herself from those who would use her for their own ends.When she met the fabulously rich Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, for the first time in her life, she believed she’d found someone who saw the woman within the legendary soprano. She fell desperately in love. He introduced her to a life of unbelievable luxury, showering her with jewels and sojourns in the most fashionable international watering holes with celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.And then suddenly, it was over. The international press announced that Aristotle Onassis would marry the most famous woman in the world, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, leaving Maria to pick up the pieces.In this remarkable novel, Diva, Daisy Goodwin brings to life a woman whose extraordinary talent, unremitting drive and natural chic made her a legend. But it was only in confronting the heartbreak of losing the man she loved that Maria Callas found her true voice and went on to triumph.
The Diva Next Door: How to Be a Singing Star Wherever You Are
by Jill SwitzerYou too can be a star! If you've ever dreamed of singing on American Idol or grabbing a Grammy Award, The Diva Next Door is for you. Switzer's book, designed for everyone from total novice on up, takes a three-step approach: how to get physically and mentally in shape for a singing career, how to create and fine-tune an act, and how to shine at auditions and to book gigs. Written in the style of a caring girlfriend, the book blends practical information with anecdotes, musical quotes, pep talks, and tips. Sample cover letters, performance agreements, references, and a "diva dictionary" add value. For the hundreds of thousands of female applicants to such shows as American Idol, Nashville Star, Today's Superstar, Oprah and Star Search, and for everyone who has ever dreamed of being a professional singer Written for the complete novice in encouraging girl-to-girl style but packed with information for all levelsAllworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.
Divas in the Convent: Nuns, Music, and Defiance in Seventeenth-Century Italy
by Craig A. MonsonWhen eight-year-old Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana (1590OCo1662) entered one of the preeminent convents in Bologna in 1598, she had no idea what cloistered life had in store for her. Thanks to clandestine instruction from a local "maestro di cappella"OCoand despite the church hierarchyOCOs vehement opposition to all convent musicOCoVizzana became the star of the convent, composing works so thoroughly modern and expressive that a recent critic described them as OC historical treasures. OCO But at the very moment when VizzanaOCOs works appeared in 1623OCoshe would be the only Bolognese nun ever to publish her musicOCoextraordinary troubles beset her and her fellow nuns, as episcopal authorities arrived to investigate anonymous allegations of sisterly improprieties with male members of their order. aaaaaaaaaaa Craig A. Monson retells the story of Vizzana and the nuns of Santa Cristina to elucidate the role that music played in the lives of these cloistered women. Gifted singers, instrumentalists, and composers, these nuns used music not only to forge links with the community beyond convent walls, but also to challenge and circumvent ecclesiastical authority. Monson explains how the sisters of Santa CristinaOCorefusing to accept what the church hierarchy called GodOCOs will and what the nuns perceived as a besmirching of their honorOCofought back with words and music, and when these proved futile, with bricks, roof tiles, and stones. These women defied one Bolognese archbishop after another, cardinals in Rome, and even the pope himself, until threats of excommunication and abandonment by their families brought them to their knees twenty-five years later. By then, Santa CristinaOCOs imaginative but frail composer literally had been driven mad by the conflict. aaaaaaaaaaa MonsonOCOs fascinating narrative relies heavily on the words of its various protagonists, on both sides of the cloister wall, who emerge vividly as imaginative, independent-minded, and not always sympathetic figures. In restoring the musically gifted Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana to history, Monson introduces readers to the full range of captivating characters who played their parts in seventeenth-century convent life. a
Divas rebeldes: María Callas, Coco Chanel, Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy y otras mujeres
by Cristina MoratóDivas rebeldes recoge las apasionantes biografías de siete mujeres unidas por el inconformismo, por su personalidad y autenticidad, por su estilo inconfundible e insustituible: por su divismo y rebeldía. Los nombres de Maria Callas, Coco Chanel, Wallis Simpson, Eva Perón, Barbara Hutton, Audrey Hepburn y Jackie Kennedy ocuparon durante décadas las páginas de las revistas. Gracias a su talento, belleza y personalidad se convirtieron en auténticos mitos del siglo XX. Famosas, ricas y atractivas, parecían perfectas a los ojos del mundo. Pero en realidad estas rutilantes divas fueron personas solitarias, acomplejadas con su físico y celosas de su intimidad, que detestaban ser tratadas como estrellas. Estas siete mujeres de leyenda comparten dolorosas heridas que nunca llegaron a cicatrizar: la falta de cariño o el abandono de sus padres, las secuelas de la guerra, el dolor por la pérdida de sus hijos o los traumáticos divorcios.Deseo que en este libro el lector descubra las luces y las sombras de unas mujeres rebeldes e inconformistas, que siguen cautivándonos porque demuestran que los cuentos de hadas existen. Aunque no siempre tengan un final feliz. CRISTINA MORATÓ La crítica ha dicho...«Cristina Morató sigue fiel a su empeño en profundizar en grandes mujeres de leyenda.»El Mundo «Un interesante libro que descubre aspectos inéditos de siete mujeres que pisaron fuerte y dejaron huella por su personalidad y su trabajo.»El Periódico de Catalunya
Divas rebeldes
by Cristina MoratóDivas Rebeldes recoge las apasionantes biografías de siete mujeres sin cuyas vidas no se entendería el siglo XX. Romances y escándalos aparte, estas divas simbolizan el triunfo y, con estilos diferentes, conforman auténticos mitos convertidos ya en leyenda.
The Dive: The Untold Story of the World's Deepest Submarine Rescue
by Stephen McGintyAn undersea adventure narrated from the suffocating depths of the ocean floor—as time and oxygen are quickly running out—The Dive is the harrowing and heroic story of the rescue of submarine Pisces III.They were out of their depth, out of breath and out of time. Two men, trapped in a crippled submarine. Outside was pitch darkness and the icy chill of the ocean&’s depths—and the crushing weight of 1,700 feet of water. On the surface a flotilla of ships and a rescue operation under the command of an eccentric retired naval commander. For three days, the world watched and held its breath. On August 29th, 1973, a routine dive to the telecommunication cable that snakes along the Atlantic sea bed went badly wrong. Pisces III, with Roger Chapman and Roger Mallinson onboard, had tried to surface when a catastrophic fault suddenly sent the mini-submarine tumbling to the ocean bed—almost half a mile below. Badly damaged, buried nose first in a bed of sand, the submarine and the two men were now trapped far beyond the depth of all previous sub-sea rescues. They had just two days&’ worth of oxygen. Rescue was three days away. The Dive reconstructs the minute by minute race against time that took place to first locate Pisces III and then execute the deepest rescue in maritime history. Ricocheting from the smoke filled &‘war room&’ at Vickers, the world famous ship-building headquarters, in Barrow-in-Furness, to the surface vessels and then down to depths where three separate dive teams and the mini-submarine struggled in darkness, this thrilling adventure story shows how Britain, America, and Canada pooled their resources into a &‘Brotherhood of the Sea&’ dedicated to stopping the ocean depths from claiming two of their own. Yet at the heart of The Dive is the human drama is the relationship between Roger Chapman, the ebullient former naval officer, and Roger Mallinson, the studious engineer, sealed in a sunken sarcophagus, with air quickly running out and help a long way off. For three days they would battle against despair, fading hope, and carbon dioxide poisoning, taking the reader on an emotional ride from the depths of defeat to a glimpse of the sun-dappled surface.
Diversifying Diplomacy: My Journey from Roxbury to Dakar
by Harriet Lee Elam-Thomas Jim Robison Allan Goodman John BersiaToday, diverse women of all hues represent this country overseas. Some have called this development the “Hillary Effect.” But well before our most recent female secretary of state there was Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve in that capacity, and later Condoleezza Rice. Beginning at a more junior post in the Department of State in 1971, there was “the little Elam girl” from Boston.Diversifying Diplomacy tells the story of Harriet Lee Elam-Thomas, a young black woman who beat the odds and challenged the status quo. Inspired by the strong women in her life, she followed in the footsteps of the few women who had gone before her in her effort to make the Foreign Service reflect the diverse faces of the United States. The youngest child of parents who left the segregated Old South to raise their family in Massachusetts, Elam-Thomas distinguished herself with a diplomatic career at a time when few colleagues looked like her. Elam-Thomas’s memoir is a firsthand account of her decades-long career in the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service, recounting her experiences of making U.S. foreign policy, culture, and values understood abroad. Elam-Thomas served as a United States ambassador to Senegal (2000–2002) and retired with the rank of career minister after forty-two years as a diplomat. Diversifying Diplomacy presents the journey of this successful woman, who not only found herself confronted by some of the world’s heftier problems but also helped ensure that new shepherds of honesty and authenticity would follow in her international footsteps for generations to come.
Divide: The relationship crisis between town and country
by Anna JonesThis book is a call to action. It warns that unless we learn to accept and respect our social, cultural and political differences as town and country people, we are never going to solve the chronic problems in our food system and environment. As we stare down the barrel of climate change, only farmers - who manage two thirds of the UK's landscape - working together with conservation groups can create a healthier food system and bring back nature in diverse abundance. But this fledgling progress is hindered and hamstrung by simplistic debates that still stoke conflict between conservative rural communities and the liberal green movement.Each chapter, from Family and Politics to Animal Welfare and the Environment, explores a different aspect of the urban/rural disconnect, weaving case studies and research with Anna's personal stories of growing up on a small, upland farm. There is a simple theme and a strong message running throughout the book - a plea to respect our differences, recognise each other's strengths and work together to heal the land.
Divided Lives: Dreams of a Mother and a Daughter
by Lyndall GordonLyndall Gordon was born in 1941 in Cape Town, a place from which `a ship takes fourteen days to reach anywhere that matters'. Born to a mother whose mysterious illness confined her for years to life indoors, Lyndall was her secret sharer, a child who grew to know life through books, story-telling and her mother's own writings. It was an exciting, precious world, pure and rich in dreams and imagination - untainted by the demands of reality. But a daughter grows up. Despite her own inability to leave home for long, Lyndall's mother believed in migration, a belief that became almost a necessity once the horrors of apartheid gripped their country. Lyndall loves the rocks, the sea, the light of Cape Town, but, struggling to achieve a life approved by her mother, she tries and makes a failure of living in Israel and then, back once again in her beloved South Africa she marries and moves with her husband to New York. It's in America in 1968 when suddenly Lyndall realises she cannot be, and does not want to be, the woman, the daughter and the mother her mother wants her to be. This is a wonderfully layered memoir about the expectations of love and duty between mother and daughter. The particular time and place, the people and the situation are Lyndall's, but the division between generations, the pain and the joy of being a daughter are everywoman's.
Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia
by Carolyn S. Spiro Pamela Spiro WagnerGrowing up in the 1950s, Carolyn Spiro was always in the shadow of her more intellectually dominant and socially outgoing twin, Pamela. But as the twins approached adolescence, Pamela began to succumb to schizophrenia, hearing disembodied voices and eventually suffering many breakdowns and hospitalizations. Divided Minds is a dual memoir of identical twins, now in their fifties, one of whom faces a life sentence of schizophrenia, and the other who becomes a psychiatrist, after entering the spotlight that had for so long been focused on her sister. Told in the alternating voices of Carolyn and Pamela, Divided Minds is a heartbreaking account of the far reaches of madness, as well as the depths of ambivalence and love between twins. It is a true and unusually frank story of identical twins with very different identities and wildly different experiences of the world around them.
Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye
by David RitzIn this intimate biography of the Prince of Soul, David Ritz provides a candid look at a star and a friend. Ritz had been working on Gaye's story for several years before the singer's tragic death, and had conducted a series of extraordinary interviews in which Gaye discussed his deepest secrets. Drawing from these interviews, Gaye's life is recounted in his own words and the words of those who knew him best: his family, friends, and colleagues. What emerges is a full-scale portrait of a charming but tortured artist, a brilliant singer with a divided soul. Here is Marvin's story, from his early years as an abused child in the slums of Washington, D. C. , through his rise to the top of the Motown industry, his fall from grace, and his comeback, to his death at the hands of his own father. But it is also the story of his music, and the music of Black America over the past four decades-from gospel to doo-wop to soul to funk. The result is an epic tale whose cast of characters includes Diana Ross, Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder, among others. The definitive biography of an enormously gifted and sensitive man, Divided Soul takes us deep into the life and music of one of America's most soulful-and most troubled-singers.
The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021
by Peter Baker Susan GlasserNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • "The most comprehensive and detailed account of the Trump presidency yet published."—The Washington Post • A Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker and Financial Times • "The book everyone is talking about."—PoliticoThe inside story of the four years when Donald Trump went to war with Washington, from the chaotic beginning to the violent finale, told by revered journalists Peter Baker of The New York Times and Susan Glasser of The New Yorker—an ambitious and lasting history of the full Trump presidency that also contains dozens of exclusive scoops and stories from behind the scenes in the White House, from the absurd to the deadly serious."A sumptuous feast of astonishing tales...The more one reads, the more one wishes to read."—NPR.com • "A beautifully written, utterly dispiriting history of the man who attacked democracy." —The GuardianThe bestselling authors of The Man Who Ran Washington argue that Trump was not just lurching from one controversy to another; he was learning to be more like the foreign autocrats he admired.The Divider brings us into the Oval Office for countless scenes both tense and comical, revealing how close we got to nuclear war with North Korea, which cabinet members had a resignation pact, whether Trump asked Japan&’s prime minister to nominate him for a Nobel Prize and much more. The book also explores the moral choices confronting those around Trump—how they justified working for a man they considered unfit for office, and where they drew their lines.The Divider is based on unprecedented access to key players, from President Trump himself to cabinet officers, military generals, close advisers, Trump family members, congressional leaders, foreign officials and others, some of whom have never told their story until now.
Dividing the Isthmus: Central American Transnational Histories, Literatures, and Cultures
by Ana Patricia RodríguezIn 1899, the United Fruit Company (UFCO) was officially incorporated in Boston, Massachusetts, beginning an era of economic, diplomatic, and military interventions in Central America. This event marked the inception of the struggle for economic, political, and cultural autonomy in Central America as well as an era of home-grown inequities, injustices, and impunities to which Central Americans have responded in creative and critical ways. This juncture also set the conditions for the creation of the Transisthmus - a material, cultural, and symbolic site of vast intersections of people, products, and narratives. Taking 1899 as her point of departure, Ana Patricia Rodriguez offers a comprehensive, comparative, and meticulously researched book covering more than one hundred years, between 1899 and 2007, of modern cultural and literary production and modern empire-building in Central America. She examines the grand narratives of (anti)imperialism, revolution, subalternity, globalization, impunity, transnational migration, and diaspora, as well as other discursive, historical, and material configurations of the region beyond its geophysical and political confines. Focusing in particular on how the material productions and symbolic tropes of cacao, coffee, indigo, bananas, canals, waste, and transmigrant labor have shaped the transisthmian cultural and literary imaginaries, Rodriguez develops new methodological approaches for studying cultural production in Central America and its diasporas. Monumental in scope and relentlessly impassioned, this work offers new critical readings of Central American narratives and contributes to the growing field of Central American studies.
Divina Diva: Vida y arias de María Callas
by Lazaro DroznesMaría Callas provavelmente foi a soprano mais importante de ‘’bel canto’’. Sua vida, cheia de altos e baixo, só é comparável a vida das heroínas trágicas que costumavam representar no palco. Sua carreira superou os limites do teatro lírico para se tornar uma diva que atraiu o interesse de multidões e se tornou uma estrela do alta classe internacional.
Divina Diva: Vita E Arie Di Maria Callas
by Lázaro Droznes Anna ZollinoMaria Callas probabilmente è stata il soprano più importante del "bel canto". La sua vita, piena di vette e abissi, è paragonabile solo alla vita delle eroine tragiche che era solita portare in scena.La sua carriera ha nettamente superato i limiti del teatro lirico, diventando una diva capace di attirare l'interesse della massa e di trasformarsi in una stella del "jet set" internazionale.L'opera, narrata in prima persona dalla Diva, racconta i principali momenti della sua vita turbolenta, alternando con le sue famose arie che illustrano e anticipano il suo tragico destino.Traduzione Anna Zollino
Divina Lola
by Cristina MoratóLa extraordinaria historia de una de las mujeres más famosas del siglo XIX, una mujer marcada por el escándalo que tuvo el mundo a sus pies. Ni se llamaba Lola Montes ni era española, pero encandiló a toda una época con su arrebatadora belleza y pasional temperamento. Bailarina, aventurera y cortesana, su vida fue una sucesión de viajes, escándalos y excentricidades. Haciéndose pasar por bailarina andaluza debutó en los teatros más importantes del mundo, aunque su talento artístico dejaba mucho que desear. Pero nada impidió que la irlandesa Elisabeth Gilbert, su verdadero nombre, triunfara en todo lo que hizo. Se codeó con los literatos, políticos, músicos y aristócratas más célebres de su tiempo, como Alejandro Dumas, Honoré de Balzac y George Sand. Se casó en tres ocasiones y tuvo una larga lista de amantes, entre ellos el compositor Franz Liszt con quien vivió un apasionado romance. Y, sobre todo, enamoró al rey Luis I de Baviera, quien la nombró condesa de Landsfeld. Por su amor, el monarca se vio obligado a abdicar en 1848. Tras sus aventuras en Europa, la bailarina se embarcó a Estados Unidos donde vivió la fiebre del oro y actuó para los rudos mineros. Divina Lola nos traslada a escenarios exóticos y remotos, desde su Irlanda natal hasta la magia de la India; a ciudades como París, Londres, Munich, donde deslumbró con sus «danzas españolas», y a las peligrosas tierras de California y Australia donde vivió como una intrépida pionera. Reseñas:«Con su habitual estilo sencillo, discreto y pasional, Cristina Morató nos descubre en su último libro la biografía de la irlandesa Elisabeth Gilbert.»Boletín de la Sociedad Geográfica Española En los blogs...«Me gustaría destacar la edición del libro, ya que la portada es muy bonita y llama la atención. También me ha gustado mucho cómo la autora ha logrado transmitir tan bien cómo era Lola Montes y sus sentimientos.»Blog Mi tarde junto a un libro «Una vida fascinante y una obra que sin duda recomiendo a los amantes de las biografías, de las historias de mujeres viajeras y de las atrayentes vidas de personajes femeninos excepcionales o únicos.»Blog Anika entre Libros
Divine Collision: An African Boy, An American Lawyer, and Their Remarkable Battle for Freedom
by Bob Goff Jim GashIn a Ugandan prison for two murders he didn't commit, Henry is losing hope. He pleads with God for a sign. Jim, in California, finds himself saying a small 'yes' to God who brings their two lives together with momentous results.
The Divine Comedy: Paradise
by Dante AlighieriIn Paradise, having plunged to the uttermost depths of Hell and climbed the Mount of Purgatory, Dante ascends to Heaven, continuing his soul's search for God, guided by his beloved Beatrice. As he progresses through the spheres of Paradise he grows in understanding, until he finally experiences divine love in the radiant presence of the deity. Examining eternal questions of faith, desire and enlightenment, Dante exercised all his learning and wit, wrath and tenderness in his creation of one of the greatest of all Christian allegories. Translation is by Dorothy L. Sayers, completed and introduced by Barbara Reynolds.
The Divine Favors Granted to St. Joseph
by Pere BinetThis books sets forth the most exalted stature of St. Joseph in the Communion of Saints.
Divine Honors (Wesleyan Poetry Series)
by Hilda RazThis elegant and moving collection documents Hilda Raz's experience with breast cancer. The journey, from diagnosis to chemotherapy to mastectomy, from denial to humor to grief and rage, is ultimately one of courage and creativity. The poems themselves are accessible and finely wrought. They are equally testaments to Raz's insistence on making an order out of chaos, of finding ways to create and understand and eventually accept new definitions of good and evil, health, blame, personal boundaries -- in short, a new sense of self. These poems remain intimately bound to the world and of the senses, becoming documents of transformation.
A Divine Language: Learning Algebra, Geometry, and Calculus at the Edge of Old Age
by Alec WilkinsonA New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice"Wilkinson has accomplished something more moving and original, braiding his stumbling attempts to get better at math with his deepening awareness that there’s an entire universe of understanding that will, in some fundamental sense, forever lie outside his reach." —Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times "There is almost no writer I admire as much as I do Alec Wilkinson. His work has enduring brilliance and humanity.” —Susan Orlean, author of The Library Book A spirited, metaphysical exploration into math's deepest mysteries and conundrums at the crux of middle age.Decades after struggling to understand math as a boy, Alec Wilkinson decides to embark on a journey to learn it as a middle-aged man. What begins as a personal challenge—and it's challenging—soon transforms into something greater than a belabored effort to learn math. Despite his incompetence, Wilkinson encounters a universe of unexpected mysteries in his pursuit of mathematical knowledge and quickly becomes fascinated; soon, his exercise in personal growth (and torture) morphs into an intellectually expansive exploration.In A Divine Language, Wilkinson, a contributor to The New Yorker for over forty years, journeys into the heart of the divine aspect of mathematics—its mysteries, challenges, and revelations—since antiquity. As he submits himself to the lure of deep mathematics, he takes the reader through his investigations into the subject’s big questions—number theory and the creation of numbers, the debate over math’s human or otherworldly origins, problems and equations that remain unsolved after centuries, the conundrum of prime numbers. Writing with warm humor and sharp observation as he traverses practical math’s endless frustrations and rewards, Wilkinson provides an awe-inspiring account of an adventure from a land of strange sights. Part memoir, part metaphysical travel book, and part journey in self-improvement, A Divine Language is one man’s second attempt at understanding the numbers in front of him, and the world beyond.