In the 1950s, comics meant POW! BAM! superheroes, family-friendly gags, and Sunday funnies, but in the 1960s, inspired by these strips and the satire of 'MAD' magazine, a new generation of creators set out to subvert the medium, and with it, American culture. Their 'comix'—spelled that way to distinguish the work from their dime-store contemporaries—presented tales of taboo sex, casual drug use, and a transgressive view of society. Embraced by hippies and legions of future creatives, this subgenre of comic books and strips often ran afoul of the law, but that would not stop them from casting cultural ripples for decades to come, eventually moving the entire comics form beyond the gutter and into fine art galleries.
Brian Doherty weaves together the stories of R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Trina Robbins, Spain Rodriguez, Harvey Pekar, and Howard Cruse, among many others, detailing the complete narrative history of this movement. Through dozens of new interviews and archival research, he chronicles the scenes that sprang up around the country in the 1960s and '70s, beginning with the artists' origin stories and following them through success and strife, and concluding with an examination of these creators' legacies. 'Dirty Pictures' is the essential exploration of a truly American art form that recontextualised the way people thought about war, race, sex, gender, and expression.
The concept of the soul has been a recurring area of exploration since ancient times. What do we mean when we talk about finding our soul, how do we know we have one, and does it hold any relevance in today's scientifically and technologically dominated society? From Socrates and Augustine to Darwin and Freud, 'In Search of the Soul' takes readers on a concise, accessible journey into the origins of the soul in Western philosophy and culture, and examines how the idea has developed throughout history to the present. Touching on literature, music, art, and theology, John Cottingham illustrates how, far from being redundant in contemporary times, the soul attunes us to the importance of meaning and value, and experience and growth. A better understanding of the soul might help all of us better understand what it is to be human.
Cottingham delves into the evolution of our thoughts about the soul through landmark works—including those of Aristotle, Plato, and Descartes. He considers the nature of consciousness and subjective experience, and discusses the psychoanalytic view that large parts of the human psyche are hidden from direct conscious awareness. He also reflects on the mysterious and universal longing for transcendence that is an indelible part of our human make-up. Looking at the soul's many dimensions—historical, moral, psychological, and spiritual—Cottingham makes a case for how it exerts a powerful pull on all of us.
'In Search of the Soul' is a testimony to how the soul remains a profoundly significant aspect of human flourishing.
What must a person be like to possess a virtue in full measure? What sort of psychological constitution does one need to be an exemplar of compassion, say, or of courage? Focusing on these two examples, 'Emotion and Virtue' ingeniously argues that certain emotion traits play an indispensable role in virtue. With exemplars of compassion, for instance, this role is played by a modified sympathy trait, which is central to enabling these exemplars to be reliably correct judges of the compassionate thing to do in various practical situations. Indeed, according to Gopal Sreenivasan, the virtue of compassion is, in a sense, a modified sympathy trait, just as courage is a modified fear trait.
While he upholds the traditional definition of virtue as a species of character trait, Sreenivasan discards other traditional precepts. For example, he rejects the unity of the virtues and raises new questions about when virtue should be taught. Unlike orthodox virtue ethics, moreover, his account does not aspire to rival consequentialism and deontology. Instead, Sreenivasan repudiates the ambitions of virtue imperialism.
'Emotion and Virtue' makes significant contributions to moral psychology and the theory of virtue alike.
A new field of collective intelligence has emerged in the last few years, prompted by a wave of digital technologies that make it possible for organisations and societies to think at large scale. This 'bigger mind'—human and machine capabilities working together—has the potential to solve the great challenges of our time. So why do smart technologies not automatically lead to smart results? Gathering insights from diverse fields, including philosophy, computer science, and biology, 'Big Mind' reveals how collective intelligence can guide corporations, governments, universities, and societies to make the most of human brains and digital technologies.
Geoff Mulgan explores how collective intelligence has to be consciously organised and orchestrated in order to harness its powers. He looks at recent experiments mobilising millions of people to solve problems, and at groundbreaking technology like Google Maps and Dove satellites. He also considers why organisations full of smart people and machines can make foolish mistakes—from investment banks losing billions to intelligence agencies misjudging geopolitical events—and shows how to avoid them.
Highlighting differences between environments that stimulate intelligence and those that blunt it, Mulgan shows how human and machine intelligence could solve challenges in business, climate change, democracy, and public health. But for that to happen we'll need radically new professions, institutions, and ways of thinking.
Informed by the latest work on data, web platforms, and artificial intelligence, 'Big Mind' shows how collective intelligence could help us survive and thrive.
Logic puzzles were first introduced to the public by Lewis Carroll in the late nineteenth century and have been popular ever since. Games like Sudoku and Mastermind are fun and engrossing recreational activities, but they also share deep foundations in mathematical logic and are worthy of serious intellectual inquiry. 'Games for Your Mind' explores the history and future of logic puzzles while enabling you to test your skill against a variety of puzzles yourself.
In this informative and entertaining book, Jason Rosenhouse begins by introducing readers to logic and logic puzzles and goes on to reveal the rich history of these puzzles. He shows how Carroll's puzzles presented Aristotelian logic as a game for children, yet also informed his scholarly work on logic. He reveals how another pioneer of logic puzzles, Raymond Smullyan, drew on classic puzzles about liars and truth-tellers to illustrate Kurt Gödel's theorems and illuminate profound questions in mathematical logic. Rosenhouse then presents a new vision for the future of logic puzzles based on non-classical logic, which is used today in computer science and automated reasoning to manipulate large and sometimes contradictory sets of data.
Featuring a wealth of sample puzzles ranging from simple to extremely challenging, this lively and engaging book brings together many of the most ingenious puzzles ever devised, including the 'Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever', metapuzzles, paradoxes, and the logic puzzles in detective stories.
In this intoxicating concoction of history, travelogue, and memoir, one of the perfume industry's leading scouts of natural ingredients tells the story of the precious ingredients needed to make our favourite fragrances. Do you know how many flowers it takes to produce a kilo of rose oil? One million roses, each hand-picked.
When it comes to nature, Dominique Roques is a unique authority. He has spent the last thirty years working closely with local communities across the globe to establish a sustainable supply of natural ingredients crucial to perfume-making. From resin cultivated by traditional methods in El Salvador to rose oil distilleries in India as old as the Taj Mahal, his network reveals an elusive trade built on the fault lines of tradition and modernity.
With 'In Search of Perfumes', Roques tells the story of seventeen of the industry's most precious ingredients—where they come from, their cultural and historic significance, and why we love them—from Indonesian patchouli to the 'Damask rose', interweaving his own recollections and reflections on his life and work.
From Andalusia to Somaliland, Roques takes us on an exclusive tour of a vast but delicate ecosystem wholly sustained by the artisans who are its caretakers. Isolated and rural, the tropical jungles of northern Laos remain to this day the only source of benzoin that centuries earlier wafted through the air of Louis XIV's court. In Madagascar, where every transaction is made in cash, a caravan of porters carry pallets bearing $500,000 to exchange for vanilla beans. The Venezuelan tonka bean, as fickle as the weather, may refuse to flower for years but is so esteemed by perfumers that patience becomes its truest virtue.
Everywhere Roques takes us, his infectious curiosity and amiability illuminate an immersive world of the uncharted. Entertaining and eye-opening, decorated with beautiful black-and-white illustrations, 'In Search of Perfumes' is an irresistible exploration of the smells that fuel our nostalgia and suffuse our fantasies.
Translated from the French by Stephanie Smee.
'Safar: Muslim Women's Stories of Travel and Transformation' is a beautifully illustrated gift book that explores the emotional and spiritual aspects of journeying.
Through a series of interviews with Muslim women from diverse backgrounds, Australian journalist Sarah Malik considers personal growth and self-knowledge in the context of travel. 'Safar' is the Urdu and Arabic word for 'journey'. Whether it be travelling to a new country or a new locale, or how these experiences affect the way Muslim women perceive and understand the world, Sarah weaves together her own experiences of travel with the thoughts and feelings of women who share their own adventures and challenges. There are fascinating stories of love and friendship, as well as stories of how travel connects to roots, spirituality, confidence, identity, privilege, and inspiration. Featuring stunning illustrations by Amani Haydar, this is an important and loving book that centres the experiences and perspectives of Muslim women, offering insights for readers of all backgrounds.