Δοκίμιο & Πολιτισμός

This Very Short Introduction offers a brief survey of the life and key ideas of this most influential Victorian British writer. Moving chronologically, Gregory Claeys outlines the philosophical background out of which Mill developed, chiefly through the ideas of Jeremy Bentham and James Mill. He demonstrates how Mill's personal life, especially his 'mental crisis' of 1827, and his relationship with Harriet Taylor, were integral to his intellectual development. Throughout Claeys considers Mill's key works set within the context of his lesser writings and correspondence, and discusses the more controversial aspects of his thought concerning religion, secularism, and birth control.

'To read Ka is to experience a giddy invasion of stories - brilliant, enigmatic, troubling, outrageous, erotic, beautiful' The New York Times'Who?' - or 'ka' - is the question that runs through Roberto Calasso's retelling of the stories of the minds and gods of India; the primordial question that continues to haunt human existence. From the Rigveda to the Upanishads, the Mahabharata to the life of Buddha, this book delves into the corpus of classical Sanskrit literature to re-imagine the ancient Indian myths and how they resonate through space and time. 'The very best book about Hindu mythology that anyone has ever written' Wendy Doniger'Dazzling, complex, utterly original ... Ka is his masterpiece' Sunday Times

A wonderfully bittersweet, funnystrange account of living unwittingly with Asperger's syndrome. It is only after a crack-up, at the age of 55, that Tom Cutler gets the diagnosis that allows him to make sense of everything that's come before, including his weird obsessions with road-sign design, magic tricks, spinning tops, and Sherlock Holmes. The final realisation that he has Asperger's allows a light to dawn on the riddles of his life: his accidental rudeness, maladroitness, Pan Am smile, and other social impediments. But, like many with Asperger's, Tom possesses great facility with words, and this shines through this exceptionally warm, bright, and moving memoir, which is alternately strikingly revealing, laugh-out-loud funny, and achingly sad. Tom explores his eccentric behaviour from boyhood to manhood, examines the role of autism in his strange family, and investigates the scientific explanations for the condition. He recounts his anxiety and bewilderment in social situations, his sensory overload, his strange way of dressing, and his particular trouble with girls. He shares his autistic adventures in offices, toyshops, backstage in theatres, and in book and magazine publishing houses, as well as on - or more often off - roads.

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, I had very serious doubts about whether I wanted to cover it.
A week later -and while everyone was waiting to see the Russian army take Kiev- I realised that this is the first war in Europe and the first war in the 21st century without any ideological bias - that is, it is clearly geopolitical.
When history is written, people's stories are lost. The big agencies and TV networks focus on the war zones, the shelters, the stream of refugees - the "hot" news. The big picture that one sees in a crisis, a disaster, a war is likely generic, perhaps even stereotypical - and it certainly does not delve into people's lives.
I wanted to approach people's stories and how they reconstruct the big picture. I'm interested in understanding how war has turned their lives upside down, how they think, what they want, what they fear; to illuminate their collective and individual trauma.
Having worked several times in war zones in the past, I've always had a special appreciation for those people who remain in their homes during the bombings.
I went to the east side and the west side of the Dnieper, to five different apartment buildings representing three different historical periods: the tsarist, the socialist and the period of independence.
I met people from all social groups and classes. One introduced me to the other and for 15 days we lived together (the third and fourth week of the war, during the bombing of Kiev).
I did not just watch as an observer who arrives, takes pictures and leaves. The shots were taken inside these people's homes during the overnight curfew and air-raid sirens. They shared their food, their home and their thoughts with me.
This is their voice. (From the publisher)

A culinary journey through Greece and a treat for all slow food fans - with more than 80 Mediterranean recipes and entertaining stories from life on the Aegean coast.

Kimon Riefenstahl always carries the sun of Greece in his heart and its flavours on his palette. A passionate hotelier and gourmand, he knows exactly why the best Greek salad keeps its ingredients minimal, why high-quality olive oil makes all the difference, and why a proper Greek mezze can be the making of lifelong friendship. In Kimon's Greek Table, the passionate chef shares a very personal recipe collection - a mixture of culinary childhood memories, experimental cooking adventures, and Greek cuisine classics. The grandson of an experienced fisherman, the slow food lover is not just interested in a great Greek meal in friendly company; the careful selection and origin of individual ingredients are just as important as the results. From breakfast to evening mains, the majority of his dishes are sourced from small local farms and markets, or indeed from his own vegetable garden and chicken coop. For experienced cooks and curious beginners alike, Kimon's Greek Table is a beautiful cookbook of Aegean flavours and a rich inspiration for greater culinary pleasure, mindfulness, and deceleration.

All recipes use metric measurements.

Photos of Tzeli Hadjidimitriou  (CD included)  Pictures and views of the sea. The waters and the ruins – signs of a long-gone human presence, which measured itself with myth and reality, faced the elements of nature, created, and then abandoned… The human presence dominates, by conscious design of the photographer. “Kythera” magnetically draw the photographic lens to those moments of nature and light which give off silence. The book is in search of the soul of the island, it stops at local history, going through travellers’ writings and monks’ chronicles, it persistently demands to bring the true island to the surface. «Elle vient, elle approche, elle glisse amoureusement sur les flots divins qui ont donne le jour a Cytheree... Mais que dis-je ? devant nous, la-bas, a l'horizon, cette cote vermeille, ces collines empourprees qui semblent des nuages, c'est l'ile meme de Venus, c'est l'antique Cythere aux rochers de porphyre : Κυθείρη πορφυρούσα ... ... Aujourd'hui cette ile s'appelle Cerigo, et appartient aux Anglais.». This extract from a text by Gerard de Nerval gives the tone of Tzelli Chatzidimitriou’s photographic choices: Cerigo with its "caves where the waves dive in stormy weather", the "deserted look of the coastline", the ruined walls of abandoned houses, the "small church of Mertidia" from which "the so-called Algerian pirates seized everything they could". The book is a result of Tzelli’s exciting acquaintance with Kythera. Her excursion to untrodden parts of the island, where history has remained graven on the stone walls and the remote beaches, away from the influence of modern life, have shown her the way to the untouched soul of Kythera. The winter with the strong winds, the spring in Karavas and in Mitata create images which meet together with the half-erased wall paintings of the churches. Beside them, unique architectural forms and unforgettable views. And above all, the colours of the sea and the rocks, hidden beaches, sea caves, a deep blue, and the foam of the sea, pure white, gives birth to Aphrodite and brings the myth to back to life. The travellers’ texts and the monks’ chronicles allow the reader to imagine Gerard de Nerval’s voyage, to learn about the shipreck of the Mentor and the French revolution through the everyday life of the local inhabitants of the period. The music of Marisa Koch, the prologue to this book, surrounds the images like the clouds which cover the island in order to hide Aphrodite’s nudity and her secret loves. “Fata Morgana”, Nikos Kavvadias’ mirage and the exciting setting to music by Marisa Koch lead the reader on to the eternal myth of Kythera.

Classic introduction to objectives and methods of schools of empiricism and linguistic analysis, especially of the logical positivism derived from the Vienna Circle. Topics: elimination of metaphysics, function of philosophy, nature of philosophical analysis, the a priori, truth and probability, critique of ethics and theology, self and the common world, more.

"Superbly acute and unashamedly complex."—The Telegraph "Rich and provocative."—Times Literary Supplement "An engaging exploration."—The New Yorker"The phenomenal Ms. Beard has written another cracking book, one of her best."—The Independent What made the Romans laugh? Was ancient Rome a carnival, filled with practical jokes and hearty chuckles? Or was it a carefully regulated culture in which the uncontrollable excess of laughter was a force to fear—a world of wit, irony, and knowing smiles? How did Romans make sense of laughter? What role did it play in the world of the law courts, the imperial palace, or the spectacles of the arena?Laughter in Ancient Rome explores one of the most intriguing, but also trickiest, of historical subjects. Drawing on a wide range of Roman writing—from essays on rhetoric to a surviving Roman joke book—Mary Beard tracks down the giggles, smirks, and guffaws of the ancient Romans themselves. From ancient “monkey business” to the role of a chuckle in a culture of tyranny, she explores Roman humor from the hilarious, to the momentous, to the surprising. But she also reflects on even bigger historical questions. What kind of history of laughter can we possibly tell? Can we ever really “get” the Romans’ jokes?

What made the Romans laugh? Was ancient Rome a carnival, filled with practical jokes and hearty chuckles? Or was it a carefully regulated culture in which the uncontrollable excess of laughter was a force to fear a world of wit, irony, and knowing smiles? How did Romans make sense of laughter? What role did it play in the world of the law courts, the imperial palace, or the spectacles of the arena? Laughter in Ancient Rome explores one of the most intriguing, but also trickiest, of historical subjects. Drawing on a wide range of Roman writing from essays on rhetoric to a surviving Roman joke book Mary Beard tracks down the giggles, smirks, and guffaws of the ancient Romans themselves. From ancient monkey business" to the role of a chuckle in a culture of tyranny, she explores Roman humor from the hilarious, to the momentous, to the surprising. But she also reflects on even bigger historical questions. What kind of history of laughter can we possibly tell? Can we ever really get" the Romans' jokes?