Author: Christopher Gerrard File Type: pdf At a time when archaeology generally is experiencing a surge of popularity, our understanding of medieval settlement, artifacts, environment, buildings and landscapes has been revolutionized. Chris Gerrard looks at the people and excavations that have been important in medieval archaeology and the core theory and methodology used, creating an essential text for all medieval archaeologists.

Author: Douglas Rushkoff File Type: epub Why doesnt the explosive growth of companies like Facebook and Uber deliver more prosperity for everyone? What is the systemic problem that sets the rich against the poor and the technologists against everybody else? When protesters shattered the windows of a bus carrying Google employees to work, their anger may have been justifiable, but it was misdirected. The true conflict of our age isnt between the unemployed and the digital elite, or even the 99 percent and the 1 percent. Rather, a tornado of technological improvements has spun our economic program out of control, and humanity as a wholethe protesters and the Google employees as well as the shareholders and the executivesare all trapped by the consequences. Its time to optimize our economy for the human beings its supposed to be serving. In this groundbreaking book, acclaimed media scholar and author Douglas Rushkoff tells us how to combine the best of human nature with the best of modern technology. Tying together disparate threadsbig data, the rise of robots and AI, the increasing participation of algorithms in stock market trading, the gig economy, the collapse of the eurozoneRushkoff provides a critical vocabulary for our economic moment and a nuanced portrait of humans and commerce at a critical crossroads. Douglas Rushkoff is the bestselling author of Present Shock, as well as a dozen other books on media, technology, and culture, including Program or Be Programmed and Life Inc. Named one of the worlds ten most influential thinkers by MIT, he has made documentaries for PBS Frontline, including Generation Like and The Merchants of Cool, and he is a professor of media theory and digital economics at Queens College, CUNY. He lives in New York and lectures about media, society, and economics around the world.

Author: Edgardo Franzosini File Type: epub A hypnotic novel inspired by the strange and fascinating life of sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti, brother of the fabled automaker. With World War I closing in and the Belle Epoque teetering to a close, Bugatti leaves his native Milan for Paris, where he encounters Rodin and casts his bronzes at the same foundry used by the French master. In Paris and then Antwerp, he obsessively observes and sculpts the baboons, giraffes, and panthers in the municipal zoos, finding empathy with their plight and identifying with their life in captivity. As the Germans drop bombs over the Belgian city, the zoo authorities are forced to make a heart-wrenching decision about the fate of the caged animals, and Bugatti is stricken with grief from which hell never recover. His own end follows suit shortly he returns to Paris, and at the age of thirty-one, he is dead of suicide. Rembrandt Bugattis work is now displayed in major art museums around the world and routinely fetches huge sums at auction. Edgardo Franzosini recreates the young artists life with intense lyricism, passion, and sensitivity. Edgardo Franzosini, born in 1952, is the author of five novels. The Animal Gazer won two distinguished Italian literary awards in 2016, the Premio Comisso and the Premio Dessi. **Review Sparkling ... The tone is mellifluous throughout ... Multi-award-winning Italian author Franzosinis English-language debut is an irresistible, elegantly conceived example of biographical fiction. Library Journal In this elegant and disquieting novel, Edgardo Franzosini gives us a memorable portrait not only of a famed yet ill-fated artist most at home in the zoo, but also of a Europe whose cruelties are infinitely more extreme than any form of animal behavior. Michael Brenson, former New York Times art critic and author of a forthcoming biography of sculptor David Smith A captivating character study of a mysterious artist whose attention to the nuances of animal life brought him lasting fame ... The result is a story that is both polished and affecting, with photographs of the artists work punctuating its movements. Foreword Reviews Rembrandt Bugatti was an extraordinary artist and a breed apart this moody and atmospheric book captures the obsessive nature of one of the best of a fascinating group of 19th and early 20th century animal sculptors. Ian Wardropper, director, The Frick Collection This poignant and emotional story ... is told with expressive and elegant prose, and it will appeal to readers of historical and literary fiction, as well as those interested in early twentieth century artists. IndiePicks Magazine A moody, impressionistic, and strangely engaging work. Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review) The Animal Gazer takes you on a glorious journey into the heart of cosmopolitan Paris as you have never known it before. Through the life of Rembrandt Bugatti, a sculptor with the panache of his name, this lively, fast-paced narrative evokes an exceptional epoch in all its color and eccentric charm. Nicholas Fox Weber, author of Balthus A Biography Le Corbusier A Life and *Patron Saints Five Rebels Who Opened America to a New Art* An unusual story about a gifted but doomed young artist that grows in poignancy as it accelerates towards its tragic end. Michael Peppiatt, author of Francis Bacon in Your Blood and *In Giacomettis Studio* An appealing little novel about a fascinating man and life. The Complete Review Will appeal to any reader interested in the life and troubled times of a masterful, not widely-known, artist. Historical Novels Review This wonderful book not only tells the life of a great sculptor, it is also a testimony to the devastation that every war brings to the life of men and artists. *Il Fatto quotidiano* Edgardo Franzosini is among the finest contemporary Italian writers ... Franzosini illuminates the life of this singular artist ... an artist capable of sculpting in bronze the movements of animals and grasping their vitality in such a way that critics, after years of neglect, are discovering its unique power. *Il Giornale* So well documented and psychologically penetrating that the entire book gives the reader the feeling of an autobiographical testimony. *Libero* A book that hurts but with a beauty and humane poetry that allows for nostalgia and sweetness. *La Voce di Pistoia* About the Author Edgardo Franzosini, born in 1952, is the author of five novels. The Animal Gazer won two distinguished Italian literary awards in 2016, the Premio Comisso and the Premio Dessi. Michael F. Moore has translated works by Alessandro Manzoni, Alberto Moravia and Primo Levi. Prior to becoming an interpreter at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations, he studied sculpture at the Brera Academy in Milan.

Author: Kay Larson File Type: epub A heroic biography of John Cage and his awakening through Zen Buddhisma kind of love story about a brilliant American pioneer of the creative arts who transformed himself and his culture (The New York Times) Composer John Cage sought the silence of a mind at peace with itselfand found it in Zen Buddhism, a spiritual path that changed both his music and his view of the universe. Remarkably researched, exquisitely written, Where the Heart Beats weaves together a great many threads of cultural history (Maria Popova, Brain Pickings) to illuminate Cages struggle to accept himself and his relationship with choreographer Merce Cunningham. Freed to be his own man, Cage originated exciting experiments that set him at the epicenter of a new avant-garde forming in the 1950s. Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, Allan Kaprow, Morton Feldman, and Leo Castelli were among those influenced by his teaching and preaching. Where the Heart Beats shows the blossoming of Zen in the very heart of American culture. ReviewHeroic fascinating. --New York Times Inspirational exuberant. --Los Angeles Times Revelatory Where the Heart Beats may not just be the best book written yet about John Cage its probably also one of the most substantive-yet-readable entryways into the nexus of 20th-century American art and the immortal qualities of Eastern thought one of the most profound, not to mention unexpected, gifts imaginable.--Slate Absorbing no future commentator on Cages work or influence will be able to ignore Larsons contributiona milestone in contemporary cultural criticism. --San Francisco Chronicle Remarkable without a doubt the richest, most stimulating, most absorbing book Ive read in the past year, if not decade remarkably researched, exquisitely written, weaving together a great many threads of cultural history into a holistic understanding of both Cage as an artist and Zen as a lens on existence Not unlike Cages music, Where the Heart Beats John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists is impossible to distill, to synthesize, to relay. Rather, its goodness is best experienced in full, with complete surrender. --Brain Pickings Strange and wonderful... a gloriously rich reading experience, studded with layers upon layers of deeply inspiring and endlessly fascinating paths. One of the best books of the year in any category. --NPR.org (A Favorie Music Book of the Year)About the AuthorKay Larson was the the art critic for New York Magazine for fourteen years and has been a frequent contributor to the New York Times. In 1994, she entered Zen practice at a Buddhist monastery in upstate New York.