2016, ISBN: 9781472907448

Gebundene Ausgabe

Bantam. Good. 5.06 x 1.06 x 7.81 inches. Paperback. 2004. 339 pages. <br>Where does personality come from? Do we all have t he potential to be a Tolstoy, an Einstein or a Mozart? Wr… Mehr…

Bantam. Good. 5.06 x 1.06 x 7.81 inches. Paperback. 2004. 339 pages. <br>Where does personality come from? Do we all have t he potential to be a Tolstoy, an Einstein or a Mozart? Written by a Professor of Fertility Studies, this accessible book takes us inside our own heads to see what really makes us tick. From the Hardcover edition. Editorial Reviews From the Inside Flap Where does personality come from? Do we all have the potential to be a Tolstoy, an Einstein or a Mozart? Written by a Professor of Fert ility Studies, this accessible book takes us inside our own heads to see what really makes us tick. From the Hardcover edition. About the Author Robert Winston is a professor of fertility studi es at the University of London. His previous book was Human Insti nct. Excerpt. ® Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Bo dy, brain and mind If I were to die later today before finishing this chapter and my brain was removed from my skull, it would we igh about 1,400 grams - roughly the same as a bag and a half of g ranulated sugar. Before being preserved for posterity by being ma rinated in a jar of formalin (better still, perhaps, strong alcoh ol with some flavouring), about 75 to 80 per cent of my brain wou ld be made up of water, with just over 10 per cent fat and about 8 per cent protein. If, once it was fixed, people came to examine it and poke it about a bit, it would appear rather crinkled and whitish, and have the slightly rubbery consistency of a large mus hroom. And what is more, if you, dear reader, were to die at the same time and have your brain treated in the same peremptory fash ion, it would be so similar to mine that any difference would alm ost certainly be undetectable. The chances are that no matter ho w closely our respective brains were viewed, there would be hardl y anything obvious to show that what amused passers-by were gazin g at were two totally different specimens of the most complicated structure on this planet. There would be nothing to reveal that these two rubbery objects, which to some bystanders would seem fa intly disgusting, respectively comprised the sum total of our ver y being and personality. Nothing to show that at some time we had both loved in different ways, had known different pains, ambitio ns and disappointments, and had been angry and taken pleasure at different things. Nor that we had learnt different physical and i ntellectual skills, had mind-bending experiences in different par ts of the world, had totally different memories, liked different food or music, and that each of us had quite different human stre ngths and failings. Perhaps it is not so surprising then that i t has taken humans such a long time to understand the complex nat ure of the brain, and that it is the very centre of what makes us who we are. Although surgical drilling of holes in the skull (fo r whatever now mysterious purpose) goes back to Cro-Magnon man so me 40,000 years ago, and knowledge of the mind-altering nature of alcohol and the sap from the poppy plant is longstanding, most o ld civilizations regarded the heart, not the brain, as the centre of the soul. Ancient Egyptians, when embalming human bodies, rel igiously preserved the heart but destroyed the brain - because ot herwise it would rot - by scraping it out of a hole they drilled in the bones at the back of the nose and palate. But it was an Eg yptian surgeon who left the first written descriptions that give evidence of some basic insight into neuroscience. The Edwin Smit h Papyrus is one of the oldest known written documents. It is aro und 3,700 years old and is a surgical treatise describing injurie s, mostly to the head, in forty-eight different patients. The Egy ptologist, Edwin Smith, who first handled this extraordinary manu script brought it back from Luxor in 1862, but he did not underst and the remarkable nature of the text. Its real significance was recognized by James Breasted, director of the Chicago Oriental In stitute, in 1930, who realized it was a scribe's copy of a treati se from an even earlier time - possibly some 5,000 years ago. The horrifying injuries of Case Number Six give a description of the pulsating brain under the surgeon's hands: If thou examinest a man having a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone a nd smashing his skull, and rending open the brain, thou shouldst palpate the wound. Shouldst thou find that smash which is in his skull those corrugations which form in molten copper, and somethi ng therein throbbing and fluttering under thy fingers - like the weak place in an infant's fontanelle before it becomes whole . . . then if he suffers blood from both his nostrils and stiffness i n his neck . . . thou shouldst say concerning him 'An ailment not to be treated'. Thou shouldst anoint that wound with grease but not bind it; thou shalt not apply two strips upon it until thou k nowest he has reached a decisive point. So even Egyptian physici ans knew when it might be more prudent not to treat a patient act ively. These hieroglyphics go on to describe the delicate membran es lining the injured brain, the meninges, and the discharge of c erebrospinal fluid from inside the head. Elsewhere the papyrus re cords the symptoms of a patient unable to move one limb after sev ere head injuries on one side, and loss of speech resulting from injuries to the temple - presumably damage to the frontal lobe an d Broca's area - several thousand years before Dr Paul Pierre Bro ca described the speech centre in the 1860s. The mind/body debat e Thousands of years elapsed before the brain, rather than the h eart, was universally recognized as the most important organ in t he body. Alcmaeon, who around 500bc was one of the earliest to se e the brain's importance, regarded it as the centre of sensation - he removed an animal's eye and noted the tracts leading to the brain, recording that 'all senses are connected to the brain'. Pl ato believed in the soul - the essence of ourselves, and what we might in modern times call the 'mind' - and he thought that it ha d a separate existence from the body, to the extent that it could survive after the body had expired. He believed that the centre of the intellect was in the head. But Aristotle, who lived from 384 to 322bc, appears to have disagreed with his teacher, Plato. He seems to have regarded the heart as more important. All the lo wer animals he examined - worms, insects and shellfish - had a pu lsating organ resembling a heart but they did not have an obvious brain. All blood vessels led towards the heart, and he describes how the heart twitched when touched while the brain of higher an imals remained inert. The fact that a chicken ran about after its head was cut off helped Aristotle to the view that 'the seat of the soul and the control of voluntary movement - in fact of nervo us functions in general - are to be sought in the heart. The brai n is an organ of minor importance, perhaps necessary to cool the blood.' Aristotle hugely influenced the medieval scholars who cam e later; after all, his view of the importance of the heart fitte d with biblical accounts. The notion of the heart as the centre o f human behaviour survived until the sixteenth century. 'Faith si ts under the left nipple,' said Martin Luther. A little earlier than Aristotle, though, the philosopher Democritus argued against the heart being the centre of human functions. He writes: 'The b rain watches over the upper limbs like a guard, as citadel of the body, consecrated to its protection,' and adds that 'the brain, guardian of thoughts or intelligence', contains the principal 'bo nds of the soul'. Hippocrates, the father of medical practice, recognized the unique nature of the brain: 'Men ought to know tha t from the human brain and from the brain only arise our pleasure s, joys, laughter, and jests as well as our sorrows, pains, grief and tears . . . It is the same thing which makes us mad or delir ious, inspires us with dread and fear, whether by night or by day , brings us sleeplessness, inopportune mistakes, aimless anxietie s, absent-mindedness and acts that are contrary to habit . . .' In the third century BC, Herophilus and Erasistratus, both human anatomists, dissected thousands of bodies and demonstrated that nerves were different from blood vessels and that they originated not in the heart, as Aristotle thought, but in the brain or the spinal cord. Then, almost five hundred years after Herophilus' da y, the Greek physician Galen (AD130-200) dissected pigs, cattle a nd monkeys and wrote meticulous accounts of what he had seen. By cutting various nerves, such as those coming from the spinal cord , he established the lack of function caused by their damage. He also demonstrated that severing the laryngeal nerve resulted in t he loss of the ability to make noise. During his career he was a physician to gladiators in Rome. Seeing many head injuries presum ably gave him an insight into the working of the nervous system a nd the understanding that the brain played a central role in cont rolling bodily and mental activity. ., Bantam, 2004, 2.5, Anchor Books. Very Good. 19 x 13cm. Paperback. 2003. 353 pages. <br>NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER ? NATIONAL BESTSELLER ? An astonishing novel that traces the lives of a Scottish family over a decade as they confront the joys and longings, fulfillment s and betrayals of love in all its guises. In June of 1989 Paul McLeod, a newspaper publisher and recent widower, travels to Gre ece, where he falls for a young American artist and reflects on t he complicated truth about his marriage.... Six years later, ag ain in June, Paul's death draws his three grown sons and their fa milies back to their ancestral home. Fenno, the eldest, a wry, in trospective gay man, narrates the events of this unforeseen reuni on. Far from his straitlaced expatriate life as a bookseller in G reenwich Village, Fenno is stunned by a series of revelations tha t threaten his carefully crafted defenses.... Four years farther on, in yet another June, a chance meeting on the Long Island sho re brings Fenno together with Fern Olitsky, the artist who once c aptivated his father. Now pregnant, Fern must weigh her guilt abo ut the past against her wishes for the future and decide what fam ily means to her. In prose rich with compassion and wit, Three Junes paints a haunting portrait of love's redemptive powers. Ed itorial Reviews From The New Yorker This enormously accomplished début novel is a triptych that spans three summers, across a dec ade, in the disparate lives of the McLeod family. The widowed fat her, a newspaper publisher who maintains the family manse in Scot land, is chary, dogged, and deceptively mild. Fenno, the eldest s on, runs an upscale bookshop in the West Village, and his most in timate relationship--aside from almost anonymous grapplings with a career house-sitter named Tony--is with a parrot called Felicit y. One of Fenno's younger brothers is a Paris chef whose wife tur ns out pretty daughters like so many brioches; the other is a vet erinarian whose wife wants Fenno to help them have a baby. Glass is interested in how risky love is for some people, and she write s so well that what might seem like farce is rich, absorbing, and full of life. Copyright ® 2005 The New Yorker Review Enormous ly accomplished....rich, absorbing, and full of life. -The New Yo rker A warm, wise debut. . . . Three Junes marks a blessed event for readers of literary fiction everywhere.-San Francisco Chroni cle Julia Glass's talent sends chills up my spine; Three Junes i s a marvel.-Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls Three Junes al most threatens to burst with all the life it contains. Glass's ab ility to illuminate and deepen the mysteries of her characters' l ives is extraordinary. - Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours 'Three Junes' brilliantly rescues, then refurbishes, the traditi onal plot-driven novel. . . Glass has written a generous book abo ut family expectations-but also about happiness. - The New York T imes Book Review Gorgeous. . .'Three Junes' goes after the big i ssues without a trace of fustiness and gives us a memorable hero. - Los Angeles Times Book Review 'Three Junes' is a novel that b ursts with the lives of its characters. They move into our hearts , taking up permanent residence, the newest members of the reader 's family of choice.-Times-Picayune Fiercely realized. . .luxuri ant in its emotional comprehension and the idea, or promise, that anything might happen.-Boston Globe Radiant...an intimate liter ary triptych of lives pulled together and torn apart.-Chicago Tri bune Sophisticated . . . Engrossing . . . Catches the surprisin g twists and turns in family relationships, amid love, loss, hope and regret.-Seattle Post-Intelligencer The sort of sparkling d ebut that marks a writer as one to watch. -Daily News The fluid , evolving nature of family history is at the heart of this assur ed first novel.-Time Out New York This first novel treats family ties, erotic longing, small children and prolonged deaths from A IDS and cancer with a subtlety that grows from scrupulous unsenti mentality.-Newsday Formidable. . . The traditional novel of soci al relations is very much alive in Three Junes. Virginia Woolf an d Elizabeth Bowen, among other exemplars, would surely approve.-K irkus Reviews Brimming with a marvelous cast of intricate charac ters set in an assortment of scintillating backdrops, Glass's phi losophically introspective novel is highly intelligent and well-w ritten.-Booklist Review Enormously accomplished....rich, absorbi ng, and full of life. -The New Yorker A warm, wise debut. . . . Three Junes marks a blessed event for readers of literary fiction everywhere.-San Francisco Chronicle Julia Glass's talent sends chills up my spine; Three Junes is a marvel.-Richard Russo, autho r of Empire Falls Three Junes almost threatens to burst with all the life it contains. Glass's ability to illuminate and deepen t he mysteries of her characters' lives is extraordinary. - Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours 'Three Junes' brilliantly rescu es, then refurbishes, the traditional plot-driven novel. . . Glas s has written a generous book about family expectations-but also about happiness. - The New York Times Book Review Gorgeous. . .' Three Junes' goes after the big issues without a trace of fustine ss and gives us a memorable hero. - Los Angeles Times Book Review 'Three Junes' is a novel that bursts with the lives of its char acters. They move into our hearts, taking up permanent residence, the newest members of the reader's family of choice.-Times-Picay une Fiercely realized. . .luxuriant in its emotional comprehensi on and the idea, or promise, that anything might happen.-Boston G lobe Radiant...an intimate literary triptych of lives pulled tog ether and torn apart.-Chicago Tribune Sophisticated . . . Engro ssing . . . Catches the surprising twists and turns in family rel ationships, amid love, loss, hope and regret.-Seattle Post-Intell igencer The sort of sparkling debut that marks a writer as one to watch. -Daily News The fluid, evolving nature of family hist ory is at the heart of this assured first novel.-Time Out New Yor k This first novel treats family ties, erotic longing, small chi ldren and prolonged deaths from AIDS and cancer with a subtlety t hat grows from scrupulous unsentimentality.-Newsday Formidable. . . The traditional novel of social relations is very much alive in Three Junes. Virginia Woolf and Elizabeth Bowen, among other e xemplars, would surely approve.-Kirkus Reviews Brimming with a m arvelous cast of intricate characters set in an assortment of sci ntillating backdrops, Glass's philosophically introspective novel is highly intelligent and well-written.-Booklist From the Insid e Flap An astonishing first novel that traces the lives of a Scot tish family over a decade as they confront the joys and longings, fulfillments and betrayals of love in all its guises. In June of 1989 Paul McLeod, a newspaper publisher and recent widower, tr avels to Greece, where he falls for a young American artist and r eflects on the complicated truth about his marriage. . ..Six year s later, again in June, Paul?s death draws his three grown sons a nd their families back to their ancestral home. Fenno, the eldest , a wry, introspective gay man, narrates the events of this unfor eseen reunion. Far from his straitlaced expatriate life as a book seller in Greenwich Village, Fenno is stunned by a series of reve lations that threaten his carefully crafted defenses. . .. Four y ears farther on, in yet another June, a chance meeting on the Lon g Island shore brings Fenno together with Fern Olitsky, the artis t who once captivated his father. Now pregnant, Fern must weigh h er guilt about the past against her wishes for the future and dec ide what family means to her. In prose rich with compassion and w it,Three Junes paints a haunting portrait of love?s redemptive po wers. From the Back Cover An astonishing first novel that traces the lives of a Scottish family over a decade as they confront th e joys and longings, fulfillments and betrayals of love in all it s guises. In June of 1989 Paul McLeod, a newspaper publisher and recent widower, travels to Greece, where he falls for a young Am erican artist and reflects on the complicated truth about his mar riage. . ..Six years later, again in June, Paul's death draws his three grown sons and their families back to their ancestral home . Fenno, the eldest, a wry, introspective gay man, narrates the e vents of this unforeseen reunion. Far from his straitlaced expatr iate life as a bookseller in Greenwich Village, Fenno is stunned by a series of revelations that threaten his carefully crafted de fenses. . .. Four years farther on, in yet another June, a chance meeting on the Long Island shore brings Fenno together with Fern Olitsky, the artist who once captivated his father. Now pregnant , Fern must weigh her guilt about the past against her wishes for the future and decide what family means to her. In prose rich wi th compassion and wit, Three Junes paints a haunting portrait of love's redemptive powers. About the Author Julia Glass is the a uthor of the best-selling Three Junes, winner of the 2002 Nationa l Book Award for Fiction; her previous novels include, most recen tly, And the Dark Sacred Night and The Widower's Tale. A teacher of fiction and a recipient of fellowships from the National Endow ment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Glass lives with her fami ly in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Excerpt. ® Reprinted by permis sion. All rights reserved. Chapter 1 Paul chose greece for its p redictable whiteness: the blanching heat by day, the rush of star s at night, the glint of the lime-washed houses crowding its coas t. Blinding, searing, somnolent, fossilized Greece. Joining a to ur-that was the gamble, because Paul is not a gregarious sort. He dreads fund-raisers and drinks parties, all occasions at which h e must give an account of himself to people he will never see aga in. Yet there are advantages to the company of strangers. You can tell them whatever you please: no lies perhaps, but no affecting truths. Paul does not fabricate well (though once, foolishly, he believed that he could), and the single truth he's offered these random companions-that recently he lost his wife-brought down a flurry of theatrical condolence. (A hand on his at the breakfast table in Athens, the very first day: Time, time, and more time. L et Monsignor Time do his tedious, devious work. Marjorie, a breat hy schoolmistress from Devon.) Not counting Jack, they are ten. Paul is one of three men; the other two, Ray and Solly, are appen ded to wives. And then, besides Marjorie, there are two pairs of women traveling together, in their seventies at least: a surprisi ngly spry quartet who carry oversize binoculars with which they o gle everything and everyone, at appallingly close range. Seeing t he sights, they wear identical, brand-new hiking boots; to the gr oup's communal dinners, cork-soled sandals with white crocheted t ops. Paul thinks of them as the quadruplets. In the beginning, t here was an all-around well-mannered effort to mingle, but then, sure as sedimentation, the two married couples fell together and the quadruplets reverted more or less to themselves. Only Marjori e, trained by profession to dole out affection equally, continues to treat everyone like a new friend, and with her as their muse, the women coddle Paul like an infant. His room always has the be st view, his seat on the boat is always in shade; the women alway s insist. The husbands treat him as though he were vaguely leprou s. Jack finds the whole thing amusing: Delightful, watching you c ringe. Jack is their guide: young and irreverent, thank God. Reve rence would send Paul over the edge. Even this far from home the re are reminders, like camera flashes or shooting pains. On the s treets, in the plazas, on the open-decked ferries, he is constant ly sighting Maureen: any tall lively blonde, any sunstruck girl w ith a touch of the brazen. German or Swedish or Dutch, there she is, again and again. Today she happens to be an American, one of two girls at a nearby table. Jack has noticed them too, Paul can tell, though both men pretend to read their shared paper-day befo re yesterday's Times. By no means beautiful, this girl, but she h as a garish spirit, a laugh she makes no effort to stifle. She we ars an eccentrically wide-brimmed hat, tied under her chin with a feathery scarf. (Miss Forties Nostalgic, Maureen would have pegg ed her. These gals think they missed some grand swinging party.) Little good the hat seems to have done her, though: she is sunbur nt geranium pink, her arms crazed with freckles. The second girl is the beauty, with perfect pale skin and thick cocoa-colored hai r; Jack will have an eye on that one. The girls talk too loudly, but Paul enjoys listening. In their midtwenties, he guesses, ten years younger than his sons. Heaven. I am telling you exquisite, says the dark-haired girl in a husky, all-knowing voice. A sensua l sort of coup de foudre. You go up on donkeys? Where? the blond e answers eagerly. This dishy farmer rents them. He looks like G iancarlo Giannini. Those soulful sad-dog eyes alone are worth the price of admission. He rides alongside and whacks them with a st ick when they get ornery. Whacks them? Oh just prods them a lit tle, for God's sake. Nothing inhumane. Listen-I'm sure the ones t hat hump olives all day really get whacked. By donkey standards, these guys live like royalty. She rattles through a large canvas satchel and pulls out a map, which she opens across the table. Th e girls lean together. Valley of the Butterflies! The blonde poi nts. Jack snorts quietly from behind his section of the Times. D on't tell the dears, but it's moths. Paul folds his section and lays it on the table. He is the owner and publisher of the Yeoman , the Dumfries-Galloway paper. When he left, he promised to call in every other day. He has called once in ten and felt grateful n ot to be needed. Paging through the news from afar, he finds hims elf tired of it all. Tired of Maggie Thatcher, her hedgehog eyes, her vacuous hair, her cotton-mouthed edicts on jobs, on taxes, o n terrorist acts. Tired of bickering over the Chunnel, over untap ped oil off the Isle of Mull. Tired of rainy foggy pewtered skies . Here, too, there are clouds, but they are inconsequential, each one benign as a bridal veil. And wind, but the wind is warm, mak ing a cheerful fuss of the awning over the tables, carrying loose napkins like birds to th, Anchor Books, 2003, 3, Bloomsbury Continuum. Good. 5.49 x 0.74 x 8.8 inches. Hardcover. 2016. 176 pages. dj curling<br>In Why Believe? (Continuum) Professor Jo hn Cottingham argued that every human being possesses impulses an d aspirations for which religious belief offers a home. His new b ook, How to Believe is concerned not so much with why we should b elieve as with what leads a person to become a believer. Cottingh am challenges believers and non-believers alike to think afresh a bout the need to change their lives and about what such change mi ght involve. Editorial Reviews Review A beautifully written an d nuanced defence of religious belief as a transformative practic e rather than a set of intellectual doctrines. Written by one of Britain's leading philosophers, this is a careful and sensitive e xploration of the deep nature of religious understanding. ?Profes sor Keith Ward A lucid and often moving account of the nature of religious belief, of the habits involved in acquiring it, and of its place in the life of the believer. Written by a highly culti vated philosopher in language that comes from the heart, this boo k defines a place in the psyche that can still be defended agains t the scepticism, cynicism and scientism of our times. ?Professor Roger Scruton About the Author John Cottingham is Emeritus Pro fessor of Philosophy at Reading University and a Fellow of Heythr op College and St John's College, Oxford. A world authority on De scartes, he has published a number of works on the philosopher. H is previous books include, Why Believe? (Continuum) About the Au thor John Cottingham is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Readi ng University and a Fellow of Heythrop College and St John's Coll ege, Oxford. A world authority on Descartes, he has published a n umber of works on the philosopher. His previous books include, Wh y Believe? (Continuum) ., Bloomsbury Continuum, 2016, 2.5<

2016, ISBN: 9781472907448

Atria Books. Very Good. 24 x 16cm. Hardcover. 2007. 464 pages. <br>In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, c olor your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen min… Mehr…

Atria Books. Very Good. 24 x 16cm. Hardcover. 2007. 464 pages. <br>In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, c olor your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minut es, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you c an fold laundry for a family of five....In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minu tes, you can get revenge. Sterling is a small, ordinary New Hamp shire town where nothing ever happens -- until the day its compla cency is shattered by a shocking act of violence. In the aftermat h, the town's residents must not only seek justice in order to be gin healing but also come to terms with the role they played in t he tragedy. For them, the lines between truth and fiction, right and wrong, insider and outsider have been obscured forever. Josie Cormier, the teenage daughter of the judge sitting on the case, could be the state's best witness, but she can't remember what ha ppened in front of her own eyes. And as the trial progresses, fau lt lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show, destroying the closest of friendships and families. Ninet een Minutes is New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult's m ost raw, honest, and important novel yet. Told with the straightf orward style for which she has become known, it asks simple quest ions that have no easy answers: Can your own child become a myste ry to you? What does it mean to be different in our society? Is i t ever okay for a victim to strike back? And who -- if anyone -- has the right to judge someone else? Editorial Reviews Amazon.c om Review Best known for tackling controversial issues through ri chly told fictional accounts, Jodi Picoult's 14th novel, Nineteen Minutes, deals with the truth and consequences of a smalltown hi gh-school shooting. Set in Sterling, New Hampshire, Picoult offer s reads a glimpse of what would cause a 17-year-old to wake up on e day, load his backpack with four guns, and kill nine students a nd one teacher in the span of nineteen minutes. As with any Picou lt novel, the answers are never black and white, and it is her ex ceptional ability to blur the lines between right and wrong that make this author such a captivating storyteller. On Peter Hough ton's first day of kindergarten, he watched helplessly as an olde r boy ripped his lunch box out of his hands and threw it out the window. From that day on, his life was a series of humiliations, from having his pants pulled down in the cafeteria, to being call ed a freak at every turn. But can endless bullying justify murder ? As Picoult attempts to answer this question, she shows us all s ides of the equation, from the ruthless jock who loses his abilit y to speak after being shot in the head, to the mother who both b lames and pities herself for producing what most would call a mon ster. Surrounding Peter's story is that of Josie Cormier, a forme r friend whose acceptance into the popular crowd hangs on a strin g that makes it impossible for her to reconcile her beliefs with her actions. At times, Nineteen Minutes can seem tediously ster eotypical-- jocks versus nerds, parent versus child, teacher vers us student. Part of Picoult's gift is showing us the subtleties o f these common dynamics, and the startling effects they often hav e on the moral landscape. As Peter's mother says at the end of th is spellbinding novel, Everyone would remember Peter for nineteen minutes of his life, but what about the other nine million? --Gi sele Toueg From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Bestseller Pi coult (My Sister's Keeper) takes on another contemporary hot-butt on issue in her brilliantly told new thriller, about a high schoo l shooting. Peter Houghton, an alienated teen who has been bullie d for years by the popular crowd, brings weapons to his high scho ol in Sterling, N.H., one day and opens fire, killing 10 people. Flashbacks reveal how bullying caused Peter to retreat into a wor ld of violent computer games. Alex Cormier, the judge assigned to Peter's case, tries to maintain her objectivity as she struggles to understand her daughter, Josie, one of the surviving witnesse s of the shooting. The author's insights into her characters' dee p-seated emotions brings this ripped-from-the-headlines read chil lingly alive. (Mar.) Copyright ® Reed Business Information, a di vision of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Publisher s Weekly Starred Review. Bestseller Picoult (My Sister's Keeper) takes on another contemporary hot-button issue in her brilliantly told new thriller, about a high school shooting. Peter Houghton, an alienated teen who has been bullied for years by the popular crowd, brings weapons to his high school in Sterling, N.H., one d ay and opens fire, killing 10 people. Flashbacks reveal how bully ing caused Peter to retreat into a world of violent computer game s. Alex Cormier, the judge assigned to Peter's case, tries to mai ntain her objectivity as she struggles to understand her daughter , Josie, one of the surviving witnesses of the shooting. The auth or's insights into her characters' deep-seated emotions brings th is ripped-from-the-headlines read chillingly alive. (Mar.) Copyr ight ® Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc . All rights reserved. From Bookmarks Magazine Nobody does 'ripp ed from the headlines' better than Picoult, claims the Christian Science Monitor, and in her 14th book she takes on the sensitive, disturbing topic of school shootings. This is a raw subject for many, and reviewers were quick to note that this intense novel is not for the squeamish. Fans of Picoult (My Sister's Keeper,***1/ 2 July/Aug 2004) will recognize the setting, some of the characte rs, and her trademark, jaw-dropping plot twists as she explores t he events leading up to and following the tragedy. Reviewers appl auded her ability to make readers sympathize as much with the sho oter as with his targets, blending the lines of aggressor and vic tim with ease. Those who dare to venture into such dark territory will be richly rewarded. Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Med ia, Inc. From Booklist Popular and prolific Picoult (My Sister's Keeper, and The Tenth Circle , 2006) now tackles the troubling t opic of a school shooting. Picoult considers the tragedy--in 19 q uick minutes, 10 are dead and 19 are wounded--from several differ ent perspectives, including that of the shooter, a troubled boy n amed Peter, who was mercilessly picked on at school. The small to wn of Sterling is rocked by the carnage. Alex Cormier is the supe rior court judge planning to hear the case, but her daughter, Jos ie, Peter's only friend during childhood but now a member of the in crowd, was in the midst of the melee. Peter spared Josie, but killed her boyfriend. Two characters from previous Picoult novels are also involved. Charismatic detective Patrick DuCharme rushes into the school and apprehends Peter, and Jordan McAfee agrees t o defend the young killer. Every bit as gripping and moving as Pi coult's previous novels, Nineteen Minutes will no doubt garner co nsiderable attention for its controversial subject and twist endi ng. Kristine Huntley Copyright © American Library Association. Al l rights reserved Review A master of the craft of storytelling. -- AP Newswire Picoult spins fast-paced tales of family dysfunct ion, betrayal, and redemption.... [Her] depiction of these rites of contemporary adolescence is exceptional: unflinching, unjudgme ntal, utterly chilling. -- The Washington Post Jodi Picoult's bo oks explore all the shades of gray in a world too often judged in black and white. -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch About the Author Jo di Picoult received an AB in creative writing from Princeton and a master's degree in education from Harvard. The recipient of the 2003 New England Book Award for her entire body of work, she is the author of twenty-six novels, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers House Rules, Handle With Care, Change of Heart, and M y Sister's Keeper, for which she received the American Library As sociation's Margaret Alexander Edwards Award. She lives in New Ha mpshire with her husband and three children. Visit her website at JodiPicoult. From The Washington Post Reviewed by Frances T aliaferro Early in Nineteen Minutes, Detective Patrick Ducharme walks through a deserted crime scene. Artifacts have been left be hind: the Wonder-bread sandwiches scarred by only one bite; the t ub of Cherry Bomb lip gloss . . . the salt-and-pepper composition notebooks filled with study sheets on Aztec civilization and mar gin notes about the current one: I luv Zach S!!! It's eerily ordi nary -- until you notice the dead bodies. This is the cafeteria of Sterling (N.H.) High School, shortly after a gunman has killed 10 people and wounded many others. His rampage lasted 19 minutes . As the prosecutor will later point out, In nineteen minutes, yo u can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hoc key game. You can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist. You can fold laundry for a family of five. Or . . . you can brin g the world to a screeching halt. There's never any doubt that t he gunman was Peter Houghton, a 17-year-old student. Hundreds of witnesses confirm it. Now, justice must be accomplished -- proper ly, and not by an angry mob. It won't be easy in this small town where everybody is connected. Peter's mother, for instance, is th e midwife who delivered Josie Cormier. Peter and Josie were best friends until puberty hit and Josie became a cool girl while Pete r remained a nerd. Matt Royston, Josie's dazzling boyfriend, was Peter's last victim. Josie's mother, Alex Cormier, is the judge w ho will try Peter's case -- unless she can be brought to recuse h erself. And these are only the most salient connections. Dozens o f others must be traced as the authorities piece together why the shooting happened. Parent-child relationships are central to Ni neteen Minutes. When you're a teenager, the fact of parents is un avoidable, even when they're not very good at being parents. For Josie's single mother, it's easy to be a judge and hard to be a m other; everything she says comes out wrong. To Peter, his parents seem equally inept and obtuse. But then, most adolescents find t heir parents wanting; so how does a normal teenage worldview turn into a homicidal one? As Picoult answers this question, the soc iology of Sterling High School comes to life: nerds and jocks and brains, adults from another planet, school as heaven or hell. Fo r many of us, high school meant self-discovery complicated by acn e, prom anxiety and the perfidy of other teenagers. Though we've never been homecoming queen or most valuable player, we've made o ur peace with our own uncoolness. But at Sterling, a nerd doesn't have that relief. Bullying doesn't officially exist -- ask any g rown-up -- but if you're a nerd, you know what to expect. At the very least, cool girls will look at you as if you were a bug on t he windshield. If you're lucky, the abuse will be verbal: The guy s will call you freak or homo or retard. On a bad day, they'll cr ush your glasses or stuff you into a locker. Torment could come f rom any direction at any time, and you live in the adolescent ver sion of post-traumatic stress disorder. For some adult characters in the novel, this diagnosis is news, but no teenager would be s urprised to hear it. Certainly the reader is not surprised to he ar about HIDE-N-SHRIEK, the video game Peter created, in which th e underdog gets a chance to annihilate the bullies with weapons f ound in any school building. Peter's ingenuity is appalling and p athetic and almost valiant; like Josie, he's a person of moral co mplexity. The adult characters, however, tend to be one-sided a nd given to making snappy comebacks with a frequency that's enter taining but not plausible. The judge has such gumption and good s ense that her refrain of maternal inadequacy just doesn't ring tr ue. Picoult is the author of 13 other novels, most of them widel y popular, but I came to Nineteen Minutes with no previous Picoul t experience. It's absorbing and expertly made. On one level, it' s a thriller, complete with dismaying carnage, urgent discoveries and 11th-hour revelations, but it also asks serious moral questi ons about the relationship between the weak and the strong, quest ions that provide what school people call teachable moments. If c ompassion can be taught, Picoult may be just the one to teach it. Copyright 2007, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved. Ex cerpt. ® Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Nineteen Minutes A novelBy Jodi Picoult Atria Copyright © 2007Jodi Picou lt All right reserved. ISBN: 9780743496728 March 6, 2007 In nine teen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scone s or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five. Nineteen minutes is how long it took the Tenness ee Titans to sell out of tickets to the play-offs. It's the lengt h of a sitcom, minus the commercials. It's the driving distance f rom the Vermont border to the town of Sterling, New Hampshire. I n nineteen minutes, you can order a pizza and get it delivered. Y ou can read a story to a child or have your oil changed. You can walk a mile. You can sew a hem. In nineteen minutes, you can sto p the world, or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, y ou can get revenge. As usual, Alex Cormier was running late. It took thirty-two minutes to drive from her house in Sterling to th e superior court in Grafton County, New Hampshire, and that was o nly if she speeded through Orford. She hurried downstairs in her stockings, carrying her heels and the files she'd brought home wi th her over the weekend. She twisted her thick copper hair into a knot and anchored it at the base of her neck with bobby pins, tr ansforming herself into the person she needed to be before she le ft her house. Alex had been a superior court judge now for thirt y-four days. She'd believed that, having proved her mettle as a d istrict court judge for the past five years, this time around the appointment might be easier. But at forty, she was still the you ngest judge in the state. She still had to fight to establish her self as a fair justice -- her history as a public defender preced ed her into her courtroom, and prosecutors assumed she'd side wit h the defense. When Alex had submitt, Atria Books, 2007, 3, Bloomsbury Continuum. Good. 5.49 x 0.74 x 8.8 inches. Hardcover. 2016. 176 pages. dj curling<br>In Why Believe? (Continuum) Professor Jo hn Cottingham argued that every human being possesses impulses an d aspirations for which religious belief offers a home. His new b ook, How to Believe is concerned not so much with why we should b elieve as with what leads a person to become a believer. Cottingh am challenges believers and non-believers alike to think afresh a bout the need to change their lives and about what such change mi ght involve. Editorial Reviews Review A beautifully written an d nuanced defence of religious belief as a transformative practic e rather than a set of intellectual doctrines. Written by one of Britain's leading philosophers, this is a careful and sensitive e xploration of the deep nature of religious understanding. ?Profes sor Keith Ward A lucid and often moving account of the nature of religious belief, of the habits involved in acquiring it, and of its place in the life of the believer. Written by a highly culti vated philosopher in language that comes from the heart, this boo k defines a place in the psyche that can still be defended agains t the scepticism, cynicism and scientism of our times. ?Professor Roger Scruton About the Author John Cottingham is Emeritus Pro fessor of Philosophy at Reading University and a Fellow of Heythr op College and St John's College, Oxford. A world authority on De scartes, he has published a number of works on the philosopher. H is previous books include, Why Believe? (Continuum) About the Au thor John Cottingham is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Readi ng University and a Fellow of Heythrop College and St John's Coll ege, Oxford. A world authority on Descartes, he has published a n umber of works on the philosopher. His previous books include, Wh y Believe? (Continuum) ., Bloomsbury Continuum, 2016, 2.5<

2016, ISBN: 9781472907448

Gebundene Ausgabe

Papermac. Good. 5.31 x 1.42 x 8.46 inches. Paperback. 1989. 704 pages. Cover worn. Corners bumped. Text tanned<br>The fourtee nth century reflects two contradictory images: on the o… Mehr…

Papermac. Good. 5.31 x 1.42 x 8.46 inches. Paperback. 1989. 704 pages. Cover worn. Corners bumped. Text tanned<br>The fourtee nth century reflects two contradictory images: on the one hand, a glittering time of crusades and castles, cathedrals and chivalry , and the exquisitely decorated Books of Hours; and on the other, a time of ferocity and spiritual agony, a world of chaos and the plague. Barbara Tuchman reveals both the great rhythms of histor y and the grain and texture of domestic life as it was lived. Her e are the guilty passions, loyalties and treacheries, political a ssassinations, sea battles and sieges, corruption in high places and a yearning for reform, satire and humor, sorcery and demonolo gy, and lust and sadism on the stage. Here are proud cardinals, b eggars, feminists, university scholars, grocers, bankers, mercena ries, mystics, lawyers and tax collectors, and, dominating all, t he knight in his valor and furious follies, a terrible worm in an iron cocoon. Editorial Reviews Amazon Review In this sweep ing historical narrative, Barbara Tuchman writes of the cataclysm ic 14th century, when the energies of medieval Europe were devote d to fighting internecine wars and warding off the plague. Some m edieval thinkers viewed these disasters as divine punishment for mortal wrongs; others, more practically, viewed them as opportuni ties to accumulate wealth and power. One of the latter, whose lif e informs much of Tuchman's book, was the French nobleman Enguerr and de Coucy, who enjoyed the opulence and elegance of the courtl y tradition while ruthlessly exploiting the peasants under his th rall. Tuchman looks into such events as the Hundred Years War, th e collapse of the medieval church, and the rise of various heresi es, pogroms, and other events that caused medieval Europeans to w onder what they had done to deserve such horrors. --This text ref ers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Rev iew Beautifully written, careful and thorough in its scholarship . . . What Ms. Tuchman does superbly is to tell how it was. . . . No one has ever done this better.--The New York Review of Books A beautiful, extraordinary book . . . Tuchman at the top of her powers . . . She has done nothing finer.--The Wall Street Journal Wise, witty, and wonderful . . . a great book, in a great histo rical tradition.--Commentary --This text refers to an out of prin t or unavailable edition of this title. From the Publisher Anyon e who has read THE GUNS OF AUGUST or STILWELL AND THE AMERICAN EX PERIENCE IN CHINA, knows that Barbara Tuchman was one of the most gifted American writers of this century. Her subject was history , but her profiles of great men and great events are drawn with s uch power that reading Tuchman becomes a riveting experience In A DISTANT MIRROR, Barbara Tuchman illuminates the Dark Ages. Her description of medieval daily life, the role of the church, the i nfluence of the Great Plagues, and the social and political conve ntions that make this period of history so engrossing, are carefu lly woven into an integrated narrative that sweeps the reader alo ng. I am a particular devotee of medieval and pre Renaissance mu sic, so Barbara Tuchman's brilliant analysis of this period has s pecial meaning for me - and I hope for many others. George David son, Director of Production, The Ballantine Publishing Group --Th is text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From the Inside Flap Wise, witty, and wonderful . . . A g reat book, in a great historical tradition. Commentary The 14th century gives us back two contradictory images: a glittering time of crusades and castles, cathedrals and chivalry, and a dark tim e of ferocity and spiritual agony, a world plunged into a chaos o f war, fear and the Plague. Barbara Tuchman anatomizes the centur y, revealing both the great rhythms of history and the grain and texture of domestic life as it was lived. --This text refers to a n out of print or unavailable edition of this title. About the A uthor Barbara W. Tuchman (1912-1989), American historian, was bo rn in New York City and graduated from Radcliffe College in 1933. A self-trained historian, she was a writer for the Nation and an editor for the US Office of War Information. In her later years she was a lecturer at Harvard and the US Naval War College. She w on the Pulitzer Prize in 1963 for The Guns of August and in 1972 for Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45. She w as awarded the 1978 Gold Medal for History from the American Acad emy of Arts and Letters. Wanda McCaddon (a.k.a. Nadia May or Don ada Peters) has narrated well over six hundred titles for major a udiobook publishers, has earned numerous Earphones Awards, and wa s named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Excerpt . ® Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter 1 I Am the Sire de Coucy: The Dynasty Formidable and grand on a hillto p in Picardy, the five-towered castle of Coucy dominated the appr oach to Paris from the north, but whether as guardian or as chall enger of the monarchy in the capital was an open question. Thrust ing up from the castle's center, a gigantic cylinder rose to twic e the height of the four corner towers. This was the donjon or ce ntral citadel, the largest in Europe, the mightiest of its kind e ver built in the Middle Ages or thereafter. Ninety feet in diamet er, 180 feet high, capable of housing a thousand men in a siege, it dwarfed and protected the castle at its base, the clustered ro ofs of the town, the bell tower of the church, and the thirty tur rets of the massive wall enclosing the whole complex on the hill. Travelers coming from any direction could see this colossus of b aronial power from miles away and, on approaching it, feel the aw e of the traveler in infidel lands at first sight of the pyramids . Seized by grandeur, the builders had carried out the scale of the donjon in interior features of more than mortal size: risers of steps were fifteen to sixteen inches, window seats three and a half feet from the ground, as if for use by a race of titans. St one lintels measuring two cubic yards were no less heroic. For mo re than four hundred years the dynasty reflected by these arrange ments had exhibited the same quality of excess. Ambitious, danger ous, not infrequently ferocious, the Coucys had planted themselve s on a promontory of land which was formed by nature for command. Their hilltop controlled passage through the valley of the Ailet te to the greater valley of the Oise. From here they had challeng ed kings, despoiled the Church, departed for and died on crusades , been condemned and excommunicated for crimes, progressively enl arged their domain, married royalty, and nurtured a pride that to ok for its battle cry, Coucy à la merveille! Holding one of the f our great baronies of France, they scorned territorial titles and adopted their motto of simple arrogance, Roi ne suis, Ne princ e ne duc ne comte aussi; Je suis le sire de Coucy. (Not king no r prince, Duke nor count am I; I am the lord of Coucy.) Begun in 1223, the castle was a product of the same architectural explo sion that raised the great cathedrals whose impulse, too, sprang from northern France. Four of the greatest were under constructio n, at the same time as the castle--at Laon, Reims, Amiens, and Be auvais, within fifty miles of Coucy. While it took anywhere from 50 to 150 years to finish building a cathedral, the vast works of Coucy with donjon, towers, ramparts, and subterranean network we re completed, under the single compelling will of Enguerrand de C oucy III, in the astonishing space of seven years. The castle co mpound enclosed a space of more than two acres. Its four corner t owers, each 90 feet high and 65 in diameter, and its three outer sides were built flush with the edge of the hill, forming the ram parts. The only entrance to the compound was a fortified gate on the inner side next to the donjon, protected by guard towers, moa t, and portcullis. The gate opened onto the place d'armes, a wall ed space of about six acres, containing stables and other service buildings, tiltyard, and pasture for the knights' horses. Beyond this, where the hill widened out like the tail of a fish, lay th e town of perhaps a hundred houses and a square-towered church. T hree fortified gates in the outer wall encircling the hilltop com manded access to the outside world. On the south side facing Sois sons, the hill fell away in a steep, easily defensible slope; on the north facing Laon, where the hill merged with the plateau, a great moat made an added barrier. Within walls eighteen to thirt y feet thick, a spiral staircase connected the three stories of t he donjon. An open hole or eye in the roof, repeated in the vault ed ceiling of each level, added a little extra light and air to t he gloom, and enabled arms and provisions to be hoisted from floo r to floor without the necessity of climbing the stairs. By the s ame means, orders could be given vocally to the entire garrison a t one time. As many as 1,200 to 1,500 men-at-arms could assemble to hear what was said from the middle level. The donjon had kitch ens, said an awed contemporary, worthy of Nero, and a rainwater f ishpond on the roof. It had a well, bread ovens, cellars, storero oms, huge fireplaces with chimneys on each floor, and latrines. V aulted underground passageways led to every part of the castle, t o the open court, and to secret exits outside the ramparts, throu gh which a besieged garrison could be provisioned. From the top o f the donjon an observer could see the whole region as far as the forest of Compiègne thirty miles away, making Coucy proof agains t surprise. In design and execution the fortress was the most nea rly perfect military structure of medieval Europe, and in size th e most audacious. One governing concept shaped a castle: not res idence, but defense. As fortress, it was an emblem of medieval li fe as dominating as the cross. In the Romance of the Rose, that v ast compendium of everything but romance, the castle enclosing th e Rose is the central structure, which must be besieged and penet rated to reach the goal of sexual desire. In real life, all its a rrangements testified to the fact of violence, the expectation of attack, which had carved the history of the Middle Ages. The cas tle's predecessor, the Roman villa, had been unfortified, dependi ng on Roman law and the Roman legions for its ramparts. After the Empire's collapse, the medieval society that emerged was a set o f disjointed and clashing parts subject to no central or effectiv e secular authority. Only the Church offered an organizing princi ple, which was the reason for its success, for society cannot bea r anarchy. Out of the turbulence, central secular authority bega n slowly to cohere in the monarchy, but as soon as the new power became effective it came into conflict with the Church on the one hand and the barons on the other. Simultaneously the bourgeois o f the towns were developing their own order and selling their sup port to barons, bishops, or kings in return for charters of liber ties as free communes. By providing the freedom for the developme nt of commerce, the charters marked the rise of the urban Third E state. Political balance among the competing groups was unstable because the king had no permanent armed force at his command. He had to rely on the feudal obligation of his vassals to perform li mited military service, later supplemented by paid service. Rule was still personal, deriving from the fief of land and oath of ho mage. Not citizen to state but vassal to lord was the bond that u nderlay political structure. The state was still struggling to be born. By virtue of its location in the center of Picardy, the d omain of Coucy, as the crown acknowledged, was one of the keys of the kingdom. Reaching almost to Flanders in the north and to the Channel and borders of Normandy on the west, Picardy was the mai n avenue of northern France. Its rivers led both southward to the Seine and westward to the Channel. Its fertile soil made it the primary agricultural region of France, with pasture and fields of grain, clumps of forest, and a comfortable sprinkling of village s. Clearing, the first act of civilization, had started with the Romans. At the opening of the 14th century Picardy supported abou t 250,000 households or a population of more than a million, maki ng it the only province of France, other than Toulouse in the sou th, to have been more populous in medieval times than in modern. Its temper was vigorous and independent, its towns the earliest t o win charters as communes. In the shadowed region between legen d and history, the domain of Coucy was originally a fief of the C hurch supposedly bestowed on St. Remi, first Bishop of Reims, by Clovis, first Christian King of the Franks, in about the year 500 . After his conversion to Christianity by St. Remi, King Clovis g ave the territory of Coucy to the new bishopric of Reims, groundi ng the Church in the things of Caesar, as the Emperor Constantine had traditionally grounded the Church of Rome. By Constantine's gift, Christianity was both officially established and fatally co mpromised. As William Langland wrote, When the kindness of Const antine gave Holy Church endowments In lands and leases, lordship s and servants, The Romans heard an angel cry on high above them , This day dos ecclesiae has drunk venom And all who have Peter 's power are poisoned forever. That conflict between the reach f or the divine and the lure of earthly things was to be the centra l problem of the Middle Ages. The claim of the Church to spiritua l leadership could never be made wholly credible to all its commu nicants when it was founded in material wealth. The more riches t he Church amassed, the more visible and disturbing became the fla w; nor could it ever be resolved, but continued to renew doubt an d dissent in every century. In the earliest Latin documents, Cou cy was called Codiciacum or Codiacum, supposedly derived from Cod ex, codicis, meaning a tree trunk stripped of its branches such a s those the Gauls used to build their palisades. For four centuri es through the Dark Ages the place remained in shadow. In 910-20 Hervé, Archbishop of Reims, built the first primitive castle and chapel on the hill, surrounded by a wall as defense against Norse men invading the valley of the Oise. Settlers from the village be low, taking refuge within the Bishop's walls, founded the upper t own, which came to be known as Coucy-le-Château, as distinguished from Coucy-la-Ville below. I, Papermac, 1989, 2.5, Bloomsbury Continuum. Good. 5.49 x 0.74 x 8.8 inches. Hardcover. 2016. 176 pages. dj curling<br>In Why Believe? (Continuum) Professor Jo hn Cottingham argued that every human being possesses impulses an d aspirations for which religious belief offers a home. His new b ook, How to Believe is concerned not so much with why we should b elieve as with what leads a person to become a believer. Cottingh am challenges believers and non-believers alike to think afresh a bout the need to change their lives and about what such change mi ght involve. Editorial Reviews Review A beautifully written an d nuanced defence of religious belief as a transformative practic e rather than a set of intellectual doctrines. Written by one of Britain's leading philosophers, this is a careful and sensitive e xploration of the deep nature of religious understanding. ?Profes sor Keith Ward A lucid and often moving account of the nature of religious belief, of the habits involved in acquiring it, and of its place in the life of the believer. Written by a highly culti vated philosopher in language that comes from the heart, this boo k defines a place in the psyche that can still be defended agains t the scepticism, cynicism and scientism of our times. ?Professor Roger Scruton About the Author John Cottingham is Emeritus Pro fessor of Philosophy at Reading University and a Fellow of Heythr op College and St John's College, Oxford. A world authority on De scartes, he has published a number of works on the philosopher. H is previous books include, Why Believe? (Continuum) About the Au thor John Cottingham is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Readi ng University and a Fellow of Heythrop College and St John's Coll ege, Oxford. A world authority on Descartes, he has published a n umber of works on the philosopher. His previous books include, Wh y Believe? (Continuum) ., Bloomsbury Continuum, 2016, 2.5<

2016, ISBN: 1472907442

[EAN: 9781472907448], Gebraucht, guter Zustand, [PU: Bloomsbury Continuum], RELIGION: GENERAL,PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION, Jacket, 176 pages. dj curlingIn Why Believe? (Continuum) Professor Jo… Mehr…

[EAN: 9781472907448], Gebraucht, guter Zustand, [PU: Bloomsbury Continuum], RELIGION: GENERAL,PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION, Jacket, 176 pages. dj curlingIn Why Believe? (Continuum) Professor Jo hn Cottingham argued that every human being possesses impulses an d aspirations for which religious belief offers a home. His new b ook, How to Believe is concerned not so much with why we should b elieve as with what leads a person to become a believer. Cottingh am challenges believers and non-believers alike to think afresh a bout the need to change their lives and about what such change mi ght involve. Editorial Reviews Review A beautifully written an d nuanced defence of religious belief as a transformative practic e rather than a set of intellectual doctrines. Written by one of Britain's leading philosophers, this is a careful and sensitive e xploration of the deep nature of religious understanding. ?Profes sor Keith Ward A lucid and often moving account of the nature of religious belief, of the habits involved in acquiring it, and of its place in the life of the believer. Written by a highly culti vated philosopher in language that comes from the heart, this boo k defines a place in the psyche that can still be defended agains t the scepticism, cynicism and scientism of our times. ?Professor Roger Scruton About the Author John Cottingham is Emeritus Pro fessor of Philosophy at Reading University and a Fellow of Heythr op College and St John's College, Oxford. A world authority on De scartes, he has published a number of works on the philosopher. H is previous books include, Why Believe? (Continuum) About the Au thor John Cottingham is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Readi ng University and a Fellow of Heythrop College and St John's Coll ege, Oxford. A world authority on Descartes, he has published a n umber of works on the philosopher. His previous books include, Wh y Believe? (Continuum), Books<