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The Art of Consultative Selling in IT: Taking Blue Ocean Strategy a Step Ahead
by Venkatesh UpadristaIf IT companies seek to differentiate themselves from the competition, they must turn to consultative selling. Consultative selling is analyzing the needs and challenges of your customers and selling unique services that enable your customers to reduce costs, increase profits, and improve overall business performance. The Art of Consultative Selling in IT provides a practical framework for becoming a successful consultative seller and shows how to use the blue ocean strategy to identify opportunities in areas where there is no competition.The first section discusses the advantages of consultative selling and explores the concepts of blue oceans. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. Competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be established. The author explains how you can use consultative selling techniques to create your own blue oceans of unknown market space, where opportunities for growth are both rapid and profitable.In the second section, the author defines the consultative selling framework (CSF). This framework is based on proven processes, best practices, and real-time case studies to make consultative selling a reality. It provides clear guidelines for understanding your customer‘s current landscape and challenges, owning its priorities, and helping it to achieve its short-term and long-term goals. The author explains how to use CSF to generate innovative ideas and present them to your customer through profit improvement or efficiency improvement proposals.The book concludes with examples of several innovative business improvement ideas that you can present to your customers, including Agile project management, master data management (MDM), application portfolio rationalization, and business process management (BPM). The author discusses the benefits of each methodology and lists the trigger points to think about when deciding whether the methodolo
The Art of Contact: Comparative Approaches to Greek and Phoenician Art
by S. Rebecca MartinThe proem to Herodotus's history of the Greek-Persian wars relates the long-standing conflict between Europe and Asia from the points of view of the Greeks' chief antagonists, the Persians and Phoenicians. However humorous or fantastical these accounts may be, their stories, as voiced by a Greek, reveal a great deal about the perceived differences between Greeks and others. The conflict is framed in political, not absolute, terms correlative to historical events, not in terms of innate qualities of the participants. It is this perspective that informs the argument of The Art of Contact: Comparative Approaches to Greek and Phoenician Art.Becky Martin reconsiders works of art produced by, or thought to be produced by, Greeks and Phoenicians during the first millennium B.C., when they were in prolonged contact with one another. Although primordial narratives that emphasize an essential quality of Greek and Phoenician identities have been critiqued for decades, Martin contends that the study of ancient history has not yet effectively challenged the idea of the inevitability of the political and cultural triumph of Greece. She aims to show how the methods used to study ancient history shape perceptions of it and argues that art is especially positioned to revise conventional accountings of the history of Greek-Phoenician interaction.Examining Athenian and Tyrian coins, kouros statues and wall mosaics, as well as the familiar Alexander Sarcophagus and the sculpture known as the "Slipper Slapper," Martin questions what constituted "Greek" and "Phoenician" art and, by extension, Greek and Phoenician identity. Explicating the relationship between theory, method, and interpretation, The Art of Contact destabilizes categories such as orientalism and Hellenism and offers fresh perspectives on Greek and Phoenician art history.
The Art of Contemporary American Pottery
by Kevin A. HluchBeauty will always reside in the eye of the beholder, but what about the fine line between beauty and functionality? Can a purely utilitarian form, such as a simple pot, vase, or plate, truly be considered a great work of art? In The Art of Contemporary American Pottery, author Kevin A Hluch takes up the challenge of addressing this debate. Hluch, who examines pottery from a unique perspective as historian, scholar and connoisseur, finds as much meaning and nobility in a thoughtfully crafted clay vessel as he does in a masterpiece painting. There are many reasons why a good pot is a good pot. Some reasons are obvious. Some are subtle. Some only reveal themselves when you know how to look. With the help of more than 200 beautiful color photos featuring the world of the country's best utilitarian potters, and a lengthy list of artists and galleries, Hluch does more than just talk about how great pottery is made. He talks about what makes great pottery.
The Art of Contemporary China (World of Art #0)
by Jiang JiehongA redefinition of contemporary Chinese art from the last forty years in the context of unprecedented cultural, political, and urban transformation, written by an authority on the subject. Contemporary Chinese art is a subject of sustained and growing significance in present-day culture across the globe. This new volume in the World of Art series reframes Chinese art since the end of China’s Cultural Revolution more than four decades ago, placing it in the context of the nation’s unprecedented cultural, political, and urban transformation. Based on original research by writer, curator, and leading scholar in the field of contemporary Chinese art, Jiang Jiehong, this volume explores the area through firsthand materials and in-depth interviews with more than thirty artists. Providing the most up-to-date understanding of contemporary Chinese art, Jiang includes a variety of media, ranging from painting, printmaking, sculpture, and photography to installation, video, performance, and participatory art. Featuring over 150 color images of artworks by more than fifty internationally renowned Chinese artists, including Ai Weiwei and Zhang Peili, as well as emerging artists, such as Zhao Zhao, The Art of Contemporary China presents a wide variety of practices through curatorial discussions and images of original installation views and historical art events. What emerges are revelations on art, and new insights into contemporary China. Fulfilling a need for an accessible, affordable introduction to contemporary Chinese art, this volume offers a concise but far-reaching survey of the movement.
The Art of Contrarian Trading
by Carl FutiaWhy is it so hard to beat the market? How can you avoid getting caught in bubbles and crashes? You will find the answers in Carl Futia's new book, The Art of Contrarian Trading. This book will teach you Futia's novel method of contrarian trading from the ground up. In 16 chapters filled with facts and many historical examples Futia explains the principles and practice of contrarian trading. Discover the Edge which separates winning speculators from the losers. Find out how to apply the No Free Lunch principle to identify profitable trading methods. Learn about the wisdom and the follies of investment crowds - and how crowds are formed by information cascades that drive stock prices too high or too low relative to fair value. Discover the power of your Media Diary - and how to use it to spot these information cascades, measure the strength of the crowd's beliefs, and decide when the crowd's view is about to be proven wrong. You will watch Futia apply these principles of contrarian trading to navigate safely and profitably through the last 26 tumultuous years of roller coaster swings in the U. S. stock market - a time during which Futia kept his own media diary and developed his Grand Strategy of Contrarian Trading. See how this Grand Strategy worked during the Great Bull Market of 1982-2000. Watch the Contrarian Rebalancing technique in practice during the dot. com crash of 2000-2002. Find out when the Aggressive Contrarian Trader bought and sold during the bull market of 2002-2007. Read about the causes of the Panic of 2008 and ups and downs of contrarian trading during that dangerous time. Futia shows you how the market turning points during the 1982-2008 period were foreshadowed by magazine covers and newspaper headlines that astonishingly and consistently encouraged investors to do the wrong thing at the wrong time. By monitoring crowd beliefs revealed by news media headlines - and with the guidance provided by the many historical examples Futia provides - a trader or investor will be well-equipped to anticipate and profit from market turning points.
The Art of Controversy: Political Cartoons and Their Enduring Power
by Victor S. NavaskyA lavishly illustrated, witty, and original look at the awesome power of the political cartoon throughout history to enrage, provoke, and amuse. As a former editor of The New York Times Magazine and the longtime editor of The Nation, Victor S. Navasky knows just how transformative--and incendiary--cartoons can be. Here Navasky guides readers through some of the greatest cartoons ever created, including those by George Grosz, David Levine, Herblock, Honoré Daumier, and Ralph Steadman. He recounts how cartoonists and caricaturists have been censored, threatened, incarcerated, and even murdered for their art, and asks what makes this art form, too often dismissed as trivial, so uniquely poised to affect our minds and our hearts.Drawing on his own encounters with would-be censors, interviews with cartoonists, and historical archives from cartoon museums across the globe, Navasky examines the political cartoon as both art and polemic over the centuries. We see afresh images most celebrated for their artistic merit (Picasso's Guernica, Goya's "Duendecitos"), images that provoked outrage (the 2008 Barry Blitt New Yorker cover, which depicted the Obamas as a Muslim and a Black Power militant fist-bumping in the Oval Office), and those that have dictated public discourse (Herblock's defining portraits of McCarthyism, the Nazi periodical Der Stürmer's anti-Semitic caricatures). Navasky ties together these and other superlative genre examples to reveal how political cartoons have been not only capturing the zeitgeist throughout history but shaping it as well--and how the most powerful cartoons retain the ability to shock, gall, and inspire long after their creation.Here Victor S. Navasky brilliantly illuminates the true power of one of our most enduringly vital forms of artistic expression.
The Art of Controversy
by Arthur SchopenhauerCollected here are six short essays-- The Basis of All Dialect; Stratagems; On the Comparative Place of Interest and Beauty in Works of Art; Psychological Observations; and On the Wisdom of Life: Aphorisms, and Genius and Virtue-- by the world renowned philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer.
The Art of Convening: Authentic Engagement in Meetings, Gatherings, and Conversations
by Craig Neal Patricia Neal Cynthia Wold“Meetings are a waste of time” is a sentiment many of us share, which is tragic because meetings bring us together as human beings. To achieve the kind of meaning or breakthrough results most of us really yearn for when we gather, the key quality needed is authentic engagement: a genuine expression of what is true for us, and an attentive listening to what is true for others. Why it so often eludes us can be a matter of habit, distrust, lack of attention, or fear.As cofounders of Heartland Inc., Craig and Patricia Neal have led over 170 of their acclaimed Thought Leader Gatherings with leaders from over 800 diverse organizations. Their new book shares for the first time the unique and powerful Art of Convening model—developed in these gatherings and refined over six years of intensive trainings—which brings authentic engagement and meaning to any group that comes together for any purpose.Convening goes beyond facilitating. Convening creates an environment in which all voices are heard, profound exchanges take place, and transformative action results. The heart of this book is the Convening Wheel—a series of nine steps, or aspects, that bring the practices and principles needed for authentic engagement together as a whole. The book provides exercises, stories, and questions to help you master both the inner and outer dimensions of this work—because in convening, the state of the convener is equally as important as the physical preparations.Convening works in any setting and can be adapted to virtually any group process. With this book you have all the tools you need to develop this essential life and leadership skill, one that will lead to improved outcomes in your organization, community, family, and relationships.
The Art of Conversation
by Judy AppsGood conversation is at the heart of networking, meetings, interviews, negotiations and raising your profile. It can ease your way in work, enabling you to build alliances, create strong relationships with staff, bosses and clients, succeed at interviews, motivate and inspire.But conversation is something most of us were never taught! We learn to speak as babies, but how conversation actually works is something most of us pick up only haphazardly, and many have yet to learn. Why is it some of us are stuck for words, but others blabber or can't stop? What is it that some people have naturally which enables them to converse comfortably and easily, to engage people and build better relationships?The Art of Conversation will show you step by step how to converse skillfully and enjoyably with other people, at home, at work, on the phone and in the street- even if you're daunted now, discover the difference good conversation can make in every aspect of your life. Learn to:-Overcome the most common block to good conversation- fear; find out how to break the silence and keep the conversation going- Understand the different types of conversation and how they work- which topics and language are suitable for the occasion- Learn simple methods for being heard and understood, including speaking clearly and audibly, listening well and using non-verbal communication- Find out how to hold a conversation in tricky situations, including how to disagree, how to speak to those in authority and people you find difficult-Use conversation to form relationships, improve friendships, make the sale, chat people up, to learn, influence and persuade.
The Art of Conversation: A Guided Tour of a Neglected Pleasure
by Catherine BlythIn The Art of Conversation, Catherine Blyth eloquently points out the sorry state of disrepair that conversation has fallen into and then, taking examples from history, literature, philosophy, anthropology, and popular culture, she gives us the tools to rebuild.
The Art of Conversation: How Talking Improves Lives
by Catherine BlythEvery day we use our mobiles and computers to communicate, but ironically we are losing touch with face-to-face talk. Catherine Blyth reveals the endless possibilities of conversation and shows that when it works it can come close to heaven. With examples from Elizabeth I to Tommy Cooper, courtesans to nomads, The Art of Conversation is full of tips on listening, the perfect handshake, talking shop and surviving conversational bores. Be it sharing a joke with a stranger, sparking a new idea or just letting off steam with a friend, there are infinite adventures to be had if you break the ice and say hello . . .
The Art of Conversation
by Catherine BlythEvery day we use our mobiles and computers to communicate, but ironically we are losing touch with face-to-face talk. Catherine Blyth reveals the endless possibilities of conversation and shows that when it works it can come close to heaven. With examples from Elizabeth I to Tommy Cooper, courtesans to nomads, The Art of Conversation is full of tips on listening, the perfect handshake, talking shop and surviving conversational bores. Be it sharing a joke with a stranger, sparking a new idea or just letting off steam with a friend, there are infinite adventures to be had if you break the ice and say hello . . .
The Art of Conversion
by Cécile FromontBetween the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries, the west central African kingdom of Kongo practiced Christianity and actively participated in the Atlantic world as an independent, cosmopolitan realm. Drawing on an expansive and largely unpublished set of objects, images, and documents, Cecile Fromont examines the advent of Kongo Christian visual culture and traces its development across four centuries marked by war, the Atlantic slave trade, and, finally, the rise of nineteenth-century European colonialism. By offering an extensive analysis of the religious, political, and artistic innovations through which the Kongo embraced Christianity, Fromont approaches the country's conversion as a dynamic process that unfolded across centuries. The African kingdom's elite independently and gradually intertwined old and new, local and foreign religious thought, political concepts, and visual forms to mold a novel and constantly evolving Kongo Christian worldview. Fromont sheds light on the cross-cultural exchanges between Africa, Europe, and Latin America that shaped the early modern world, and she outlines the religious, artistic, and social background of the countless men and women displaced by the slave trade from central Africa to all corners of the Atlantic world.
The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy: The Revolutionary 1805 Classic
by Hannah Glasse"A very interesting glimpse at everyday cooking in the daily life of 18th–19th century England, with many helpful tips, tricks, and recipes (for the day). The language is enjoyable and the information contained is substantial." — Jefferson-Madison Regional Library SystemRevised and republished many times since its 1747 debut, this cookbook was a bestseller in England and the United States for more than 100 years. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned copies, and Benjamin Franklin even translated some of its recipes into French in hopes of attaining a taste of home while abroad. Author Hannah Glasse dismisses French cookery, the leading cuisine of her day, as inefficient for servants and middle- to lower-class cooks, citing its fussiness, expense, and waste. Instead, Mrs. Glasse focuses on standard Anglo-American fare, from soups and gravies to cakes and jellies, all simple dishes, prepared in a straightforward manner. In addition to practical advice on meat selection, carving, and basic cooking skills, this historically fascinating document offers tips on preparing food for the ill, cooking and food storage on ships, and making soaps and scents for the home. Historians, cooks, and all lovers of gastronomy will appreciate this glimpse into the kitchens of a bygone era.
The Art of Cookies
by Noga Hitron Natasha HaimovichThere'¬?s truly nothing sweeter than a homemade cookie, but when it'¬?s creatively decorated, that cookie can become a tasty work of art. THE ART OF COOKIES delivers an imaginative collection of decorating ideas and designs, focusing on themes such as birthdays, weddings, baby showers, Christmas, Hanukkah, and Easter. Be serious. Be whimsical. Be adventurous or traditional. Let your imagination go and your fingers fly. If it doesn'¬?t turn out exactly right, who cares? Eat it and make another! The idea is to decorate, originate, elaborate-if it can be done on a canvas, it can be done on a cookie. Great art and great taste-what could be a better combination? An upscale lifestyle book celebrating the art of cookie decoration for various themes and holidays. Features an introduction to creative cookie decorating and a selection of core recipes and techniques. Includes 50 step-by-step photographs of the design process so you can replicate the cookies with ease.
The Art of Cooking Omelettes
by Romaine De LyonThe chef behind NYC&’s legendary Mme. Romaine de Lyon shares her secrets, stories, and more than 500 recipes for exquisite omelettes.For sixty-five years, Madame Romaine de Lyon made a name for herself at her eponymous Midtown restaurant where she served only eggs. Romaine dedicated herself to the perfect execution of the omelette, winning world-wide acclaim and a loyal following of celebrity customers. Even the great Julia Child recommended The Art of Cooking Omelettes as the ultimate authority on this classic egg dish.Madame Romaine de Lyon presents an homage to the omelette and her life as a cook. With recipes for more than 500 omelettes, she demonstrates how to elevate each one into a culinary works of art. With charm and wit, she also recounts how she came to America with nothing and built her renowned restaurant.
The Art of Cooking, Pie Making, Pastry Making, and Preserving: Arte de cocina, pastelería, vizcochería y conservería (Culinaria)
by Francisco MontiñoIn 1611 Francisco Martínez Montiño, chef to Philip II, Philip III, and Philip IV of Spain, published what would become the most recognized Spanish cookbook for centuries: Arte de cocina, pastelería, vizcochería y conservería. This first English translation of The Art of Cooking, Pie Making, Pastry Making, and Preserving will delight and surprise readers with the rich array of ingredients and techniques found in the early modern kitchen. Based on her substantial research and hands-on experimentation, Carolyn A. Nadeau reveals how early cookbooks were organized and read and presents an in-depth analysis of the ingredients featured in the book. She also introduces Martínez Montiño and his contributions to culinary history, and provides an assessment of taste at court and an explanation of regional, ethnic, and international foodstuffs and recipes. The 506 recipes and treatises reproduced in The Art of Cooking, Pie Making, Pastry Making, and Preserving outline everything from rules for kitchen cleanliness to abstinence foods to seasonal banquet menus, providing insight into why this cookbook, penned by the chef of kings, stayed in production for centuries.
The Art of Cooking with Cannabis: CBD and THC-Infused Recipes from Across America
by Tracey Medeiros125 mouthwatering recipes featuring CBD, hemp, and THC from organic farmers, award-winning chefs, artisans, and food producers across the country. More than a cookbook, The Art of Cooking with Cannabis is a valuable resource for new inspiration and excitement surrounding cannabis, food, and responsible consumption. Tracey Medeiros introduces the reader to dozens of organic farmers, award-winning chefs, artisans, and food producers who are leading the green revolution by doing their part to demystify cannabis and its culinary use. Individual profiles contain stories from the book&’s contributors who come from rural and suburban communities and bustling cities across this nation. These folks have generously shared their personal struggles and successes which have led them to understand the many health and wellness benefits of the cannabis plant and its important role in society. From chemistry to culinary, the book contains 125 mouthwatering recipes, such as: Chicken Kale Meatballs with Cherry Tomato and Pesto Sauces from Chef Jordan WagmanAvocado Mash with Nori and Cucumber from Chef Michael MaglianoCBD-Infused Vegan Gluten-Free Miso Broth from Jessica CatalanoTHC- and CBD-Infused Smoked Cheddar with Green Chili Stone-Ground Grits from Chef Kevin GrossiSh&’mac and Cheese from Carly FisherVegan No-Bake Cashew Cheese Cake from Chef Maria Hines Simple and beautifully presented spirit-free and spirit cocktails such as &“The 700 Club&” and &“Rebellious&” are also featured in the cookbook from contributors including Entente Chicago and Prank Bar. Recipes are divided into three categories—CBD, Hemp, and THC—each adapted to meet the reader&’s cooking and tolerance levels. Insightful sidebars offer informative tips and &“how-to&” guidance, helping the cook to use cannabis with ease and confidence.
The Art of Copying Art
by Penelope JacksonThis book is a study of the history, role and significance of copying art. Copies have enjoyed a different status from authentic artworks and though often acknowledged, very rarely have they been considered collectively as a genre in their own right. This volume showcases a variety of examples—from copies of famous artworks made and used as props in movies to those made innocently by student artists as part of their training. Examining the motivations for making copies, and reflecting on the reception of copies, is central to this book. Copies have historically filled voids in collections, where some sadly languish, and have become a curatorial burden. In other cases, having a copy assists in conservation projects and fills the place of a lost work. Ultimately by interrogating a copy’s role and intent we might ask ourselves if viewing a copy changes our experience and perception of an artwork.
The Art of Corporate Success: The Story of Schlumberger
by Ken AulettaA revealing portrait of one of the world's finest, yet most opaque, companies--and the quiet genius who made it thrive Ken Auletta set out to locate one of the world's most prosperous businesses and explain its formula for success. He searched for an enterprise with a vivid chief executive and found that company in Schlumberger Limited, a multinational oilfield services firm with skyrocketing profits and a reputation as one of the best-managed global corporations. Auletta also found his fascinating CEO in Jean Riboud, a man who had eluded media attention even though he had guided Schlumberger for 2 decades. In this compelling portrait, Auletta brings the notoriously low-profile executive to life, detailing his unique style of management and the unusual corporate culture he nurtured. A self-proclaimed socialist from France, Riboud fought in the resistance during World War II, was captured by the Nazis, and was held prisoner at the Buchenwald concentration camp. He joined Schlumberger as an assistant and quickly rose through the company's ranks. Although he was admired for his fierce drive for perfection and eye for long-term planning and expansion, Riboud distanced himself from his corporate cohorts and instead socialized with a diverse group of artists, writers, and politicians. Brilliant and paradoxical, Riboud makes for a fascinating subject in Auletta's comprehensive and illuminating book.
The Art of Cosmic Vision: Practices for Improving Your Eyesight
by Mantak Chia Robert T. LewanskiHow to achieve perfect vision naturally through proven eye-training methods • Explains how vision problems are related to imbalances in the internal organs • Provides Taoist and Ayurvedic practices for harmonizing the liver and kidneys, the organs directly associated with eye problems In the West, problems with eyesight are treated separately from overall health, usually with prescription glasses or contact lenses. But Eastern systems of holistic healing view the eyes as mirrors of physical health. Eye problems reflect problems with the internal organs, most specifically the liver and kidneys. The Art of Cosmic Vision offers Taoist healing sound exercises for strengthening the liver and kidneys as well as seven internal Chi Kung exercises and Dao-Yin self-massage practices for toning the organ meridians. It also provides extensive dietary recommendations, including a complete Ayurvedic analysis of the three main nutritional body types. The wide variety of eye-strengthening exercises in The Art of Cosmic Vision includes the Egyptian Black Dot technique, the Taoist Long Swing technique, the Tai Chi Rocker Eye technique, and relaxing Yoga Eye Palming techniques. Rather than viewing the ciliary muscle within the eye as the only muscle responsible for focus, these exercises improve focus by training all of the muscles surrounding the eyes. With attention to improved diet, physical exercise, and these proven eye-training techniques, readers can restore their vision to vibrant health.
The Art of Counselling: For anyone who needs to listen, support and advise at work
by Rollo MayWhatever you do at work, if you interact with people - either as colleagues or clients - you will need the skills to have sensitive conversations. We cannot all be trained psychotherapists, but we can learn how to effectively listen, empathise and advise others in need. In The Art of Counselling, leading psychologist and psychotherapist Rollo May gives you to tools to interact compassionately and productively, helping you to:- Appear approachable and build empathy from the outset- Tailor your approach according to personality types- Listen with purpose in order to give meaningful adviceA pioneer in the field of existential psychology, Rollo May recognised that many people who are not counsellors by profession are often required to act as such at work. The Art of Counselling has since become a classic of the genre and is more relevant than ever to the modern workplace.
The Art of Counselling and Psychotherapy
by Rainer Matthias Holm-HadullaCounselling and psychotherapy are effective to the extent that they promote the creativity of clients and patients. Creativity is both a lifestyle and a health resource. A creative lifestyle implies learning to be the authors of our own lives and a creative approach to our inner lives and our social environment gives us coherence and authenticity. This book derives creative principles for counselling and psychotherapy from practical modern approaches in these fields, as well as from psychoanalysis, hermeneutics, and new concepts of creativity itself. The creative attitude central to this represents an integrative basis for the differential application of various counselling and treatment techniques. Creative counselling serves to assist in coping with distress and clearly defined conflicts, and encourages personal and professional development. Creative psychotherapy is an aspect of dynamic, analytic and integrative psychotherapy. The hermeneutic principles – memory, narrative shaping, interactional experience – are activated with a view to ridding patients of psychopathological symptoms. In the modern world with all its challenges, creative counselling and psychotherapy are of outstanding importance. The book outlines a readily understandable, vital, and creative approach to the practice of counselling and psychotherapy in the service of the development of personal and social creativity.
The Art of Counterpoint from Du Fay to Josquin
by Jesse RodinThis book transforms our understanding of a fifteenth-century musical revolution. Renaissance composers developed fresh ways of handling musical flow in pursuit of intensifications, unexpected explosions, dramatic pauses, and sudden evaporations. A new esthetics of opposition, as this study calls it, can be contrasted with smoother and less goal-oriented approaches in music from before – and after – the period ca. 1425–1520. Casting wide evidentiary and repertorial nets, the book reinterprets central genres, theoretical concepts, historical documents, famous pieces, and periodizations; a provocative concluding chapter suggests that we moderns have tended to conceal the period's musical poetics by neglecting central evidence. Above all the book introduces an analytical approach sensitive to musical flow and invites new ways of hearing, performing, and thinking about music from Du Fay to Josquin.
The Art of Crash Landing: A Novel
by Melissa DeCarloFrom a bright new talent comes this debut novel about a young woman who travels for the first time to her mother’s hometown, and gets sucked into the mystery that changed her family foreverMattie Wallace has really screwed up this time. Broke and knocked up, she’s got all her worldly possessions crammed into six giant trash bags, and nowhere to go. Try as she might, Mattie can no longer deny that she really is turning into her mother, a broken alcoholic who never met a bad choice she didn’t make.When Mattie gets news of a possible inheritance left by a grandmother she’s never met, she jumps at this one last chance to turn things around. Leaving the Florida Panhandle, she drives eight hundred miles to her mother’s birthplace—the tiny town of Gandy, Oklahoma. There, she soon learns that her mother remains a local mystery—a happy, talented teenager who inexplicably skipped town thirty-five years ago with nothing but the clothes on her back. But the girl they describe bears little resemblance to the damaged woman Mattie knew, and before long it becomes clear that something terrible happened to her mother, and it happened here. The harder Mattie digs for answers, the more obstacles she encounters. Giving up, however, isn’t an option. Uncovering what started her mother’s downward spiral might be the only way to stop her own.Hilarious, gripping, and unexpectedly wise, The Art of Crash Landing is a poignant novel from an assured new voice.