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The Gifts of Reading
Par Robert Macfarlane. 2016
From the bestselling author of UNDERLAND, THE OLD WAYS and THE LOST WORDS - an essay on the joy of…
reading, for anyone who has ever loved a bookEvery book is a kind of gift to its reader, and the act of giving books is charged with a special emotional resonance. It is a meeting of three minds (the giver, the author, the recipient), an exchange of intellectual and psychological currency, that leaves each participant enriched. Here Robert Macfarlane recounts the story of a book he was given as a young man, and how he managed eventually to return the favour, though never repay the debt.From one of the most lyrical writers of our time comes a perfectly formed gem, a lyrical celebration of the transcendent power and humanity of the given book.The Future Of The Past: Big Questions in History
Par Peter Martland. 2002
At the beginning of the new millennium, The Future of the Past offers a fresh interpretation of the issues and…
developments that have shaped our world over the last thousand years. By bringing together the expertise of members of the History Faculty at Cambridge University, all of them leaders in their chosen fields, a work of history has been created that is both fascinating and unique. Rather than approaching history as a chain of past events, this book examines some of the key issues facing mankind today and places them into a broad historical context by examining their development throughout the ages. By viewing history through themes such as religious authority, civil liberty, political ideology, demographic change and economic cycles, The Future of the Past challenges many long-held beliefs and enables the reader to reflect upon the dramatic changes of the past and the challenges of the future. As Europe reshapes itself, the question of how it was defined in the past comes to the fore; as Britain experiences devolution, its historical contours and identity are being probed afresh; as the influence of the United States steadily extends across the globe, it compels a reappraisal of the history and responsiveness of Western intellectual, cultural and political traditions. By exploring these issues, The Future of the Past provides an authoritative yet accessible introduction to the study of history and demonstrates how the changing present can revitalize our views of the past.Your Tongue Is Still Yours: Reflections On Language
Par Dur E Amna. 2019
2019 WINNER OF THE BODLEY HEAD | FINANCIAL TIMES ESSAY PRIZE'Surkh gulaaban day mausam vich,Phulaan de rang kaalay.(In the season…
of red roses,These flowers are turning black.)'Your Tongue Is Still Yours is a poetic meditation on language, regional cultures and how identity exists in the many layers between the two. Punjabi. Urdu. English. Arabic. Balti. Shina. Khowar. Wakhi. Dur e Aziz Amna goes back to Pakistan, traversing its different regions before returning to New York, considering how language has shaped her past and how it might do the same for her children’s future.Essays in Idleness: and Hojoki
Par None Kenko, Kamo No Chomei. 2013
These two works on life's fleeting pleasures are by Buddhist monks from medieval Japan, but each shows a different world-view.…
In the short memoir Hôjôki, Chômei recounts his decision to withdraw from worldly affairs and live as a hermit in a tiny hut in the mountains, contemplating the impermanence of human existence. Kenko, however, displays a fascination with more earthy matters in his collection of anecdotes, advice and observations. From ribald stories of drunken monks to aching nostalgia for the fading traditions of the Japanese court, Essays in Idleness is a constantly surprising work that ranges across the spectrum of human experience. Meredith McKinney's excellent new translation also includes notes and an introduction exploring the spiritual and historical background of the works.Chômei was born into a family of Shinto priests in around 1155, at at time when the stable world of the court was rapidly breaking up. He became an important though minor poet of his day, and at the age of fifty, withdrew from the world to become a tonsured monk. He died in around 1216.Kenkô was born around 1283 in Kyoto. He probably became a monk in his late twenties, and was also noted as a calligrapher. Today he is remembered for his wise and witty aphorisms, 'Essays in Idleness'.Meredith McKinney, who has also translated Sei Shonagon's The Pillow Book for Penguin Classics, is a translator of both contemporary and classical Japanese literature. She lived in Japan for twenty years and is currently a visitng fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra.'[Essays in Idleness is] a most delightful book, and one that has served as a model of Japanese style and taste since the 17th century. These cameo-like vignettes reflect the importance of the little, fleeting futile things, and each essay is Kenko himself' Asian StudentEssays and Letters
Par Friedrich Hölderlin. 2009
One of Germany's greatest poets, Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843) was also a prose writer of intense feeling, intelligence and…
perception. This new translation of selected letters and essays traces the life and thoughts of this extraordinary writer. Hölderlin's letters to friends and fellow writers such as Hegel, Schiller and Goethe describe his development as a poet, while those written to his family speak with great passion of his beliefs and aspirations, as well as revealing money worries and, finally, the tragic unravelling of his sanity. These works examine Hölderlin's great preoccupations - the unity of existence, the relationship between art and nature and, above all, the spirit of the writer.The Essays
Par Michel Montaigne. 2004
To overcome a crisis of melancholy after the death of his father, Montaigne withdrew to his country estates and began…
to write, and in the highly original essays that resulted he discussed themes such as fathers and children, conscience and cowardice, coaches and cannibals, and, above all, himself. On Some Lines of Virgil opens out into a frank discussion of sexuality and makes a revolutionary case for the equality of the sexes. In On Experience he superbly propounds his thoughts on the right way to live, while other essays touch on issues of an age struggling with religious and intellectual strife, with France torn apart by civil war. These diverse subjects are united by Montaigne's distinctive voice - that of a tolerant man, sceptical, humane, often humorous and utterly honest in his pursuit of the truth.The Essays
Par Francis Bacon. 1985
One of the major political figures of his time, Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) served in the court of Elizabeth I…
and ultimately became Lord Chancellor under James I in 1617. A scholar, wit, lawyer and statesman, he wrote widely on politics, philosophy and science - declaring early in his career that 'I have taken all knowledge as my province'. In this, his most famous work, he considers a diverse range of subjects, such as death and marriage, ambition and atheism, in prose that is vibrant and rich in Renaissance learning. Bacon believed that rhetoric - the force of eloquence and persuasion - could lead the mind to the pure light of reason, and his own rhetorical genius is nowhere better expressed than in these vivid essays.Essays: Ethical Essays
Par Plutarch. 1992
One of the greatest essayists of the Graeco-Roman world, Plutarch (c. AD 46 -120) used an encyclopedic knowledge of the…
Roman Empire to produce a compelling and individual voice. In this superb selection from his writings, he offers personal insights into moral subjects that include the virtue of listening, the danger of flattery and the avoidance of anger, alongside more speculative essays on themes as diverse as God's slowness to punish man, the use of reason by supposedly 'irrational' animals and the death of his own daughter. Brilliantly informed, these essays offer a treasure-trove of ancient wisdom, myth and philosophy, and a powerful insight into a deeply intelligent man.An Essay on the Principle of Population and Other Writings
Par Thomas Malthus. 2015
Malthus' life's work on human population and its dependency on food production and the environment was highly controversial on publication…
in 1798. He predicted what is known as the Malthusian catastrophe, in which humans would disregard the limits of natural resources and the world would be plagued by famine and disease. He significantly influenced the thinking of Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace and his theories continue to raise important questions today in the fields of social theory, economics and the environment.With an introduction by Robert Mayhew.The Fly Trap
Par Fredrik Sjöberg. 2014
Fredrik Sjöberg's Swedish bestseller about summer, islands, freedom and boundaries.'The light, the warmth, the smells, the mist, the birdsong -…
the moths. Who can sleep? Who wants to?'Fredrik Sjöberg finds happiness in the little things. Millions of them, in fact. This beguiling bestseller is his unique meditation on collecting hoverflies. It is also about living on a remote Swedish island, blissful long summer nights, lost loves, unexpected treasures, art, nature, slowness, and how freedom can come from the things we least expect.'Full of charm, a book about how to find meaning in life' Melissa Harrison, The Times, Books of the Year'I often return to The Fly Trap, it remains close to my heart. The minute observations from nature that reveal sudden insights into one's life. Sometimes I almost think that he wrote it for me' Tomas Tranströmer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature'Charming, witty and original' Patrick Barkham, Guardian 'Nature writing that can laugh at itself, a real tonic' Gregory Day, Sydney Morning Herald'Delightful, at once informative and often humorously digressive . . . a humane man of wide-ranging curiosity, Sjöberg writes with infectious passion' Paul Binding IndependentFredrik Sjöberg collects hoverflies on the island Runmarö, in the archipelago east of Stockholm. He is also a literary critic, translator, cultural columnist and the author of several books including The Art of Flight and The Raisin King, which form a trilogy with The Fly Trap.Flourishing: Letters 1928 - 1946
Par Isaiah Berlin. 2004
Berlin's letters are marvellously accessible, and as entertaining. During the two decades covered here his personality and career grow and…
bloom. In America, during the war, he writes a regular telegram to his anxious parents, often saying just 'Flourishing'; the word fits not only his wartime experience, but the whole of his early life, vividly displayed in this book in all its multi-faceted delightfulness.Eric Sykes' Comedy Heroes
Par Eric Sykes. 2003
Eric Sykes is one of Britain's creative comedy geniuses combining personal warmth, superbly observed written and performed comedy and a…
deeply intimate understanding of what a viewing audience wants. Here he has assembled a comedy hall of fame for those who have inspired, entertained and, most of all, amused him.Including tributes to comedy greats Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Ken Dodd, Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and many, many more, this is a beautiful and personal testimony to the wonderful characters who have stimulated Eric's life-long love affair with laughter.The Fight and Other Writings
Par William Hazlitt. 2000
Hazlitt is one of the greatest masters of English prose style and this new selection demonstrates the variety and richness…
of his writing. The volume includes classic pieces of drama and literature criticism, such as his essays on Shakespeare and Coleridge, as well as less well-known material from his social and political journalism. This collection encourages the reader to reconsider the nature of critical writing, which Hazlitt transforms into an art form.Enlightening: Letters 1946 - 1960
Par Isaiah Berlin. 2009
'People are my landscape', Isaiah Berlin liked to say, and nowhere is the truth of this observation more evident than…
in his letters. He is a fascinated watcher of human beings in all their variety, and revels in describing them to his many correspondents. His letters combine ironic social comedy and a passionate concern for individual freedom. His interpretation of political events, historical and contemporary, and his views on how life should be lived, are always grounded in the personal, and his fiercest condemnation is reserved for purveyors of grand abstract theories that ignore what people are really like.This second volume of Berlin's letters takes up the story when, after war service in the United States, he returns to life as an Oxford don. Against the background of post-war austerity, the letters chart years of academic frustration and self-doubt, the intellectual explosion when he moves from philosophy to the history of ideas, his growing national fame as broadcaster and lecturer, the publication of some of his best-known works, his election to a professorship, and his reaction to knighthood.These are the years, too, of momentous developments in his private life: the bachelor don's loss of sexual innocence, the emotional turmoil of his father's death, his courtship of a married woman and transformation into husband and stepfather. Above all, these revealing letters vividly display Berlin's effervescent personality - often infuriating, but always irresistible.Feather Fall: An Anthology of Laurens Van Der Post
Par Sir Laurens Van Der Post. 1994
This Van Der Post 'reader', thematically organised to reflect the patterns and themes which have influenced his life and his…
writing, distils the essence of the writer, thinker, spiritual guru and man of action. This evocative and thought-provoking selection, combining short paragraphs and longer passages is chosen with love and insight from his published and some unpublished writings, (books, introductions, lectures, essays, ) and will give pleasure and inspiration to generations of readers the world over.Early Writings
Par Karl Marx. 1974
Written in 1833-4, when Marx was barely twenty-five, this astonishingly rich body of works formed the cornerstone for his later…
political philosophy. In the Critique of Hegel's Doctrine of the State, he dissects Hegel's thought and develops his own views on civil society, while his Letters reveal a furious intellect struggling to develop the egalitarian theory of state. Equally challenging are his controversial essay On the Jewish Question and the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, where Marx first made clear his views on alienation, the state, democracy and human nature. Brilliantly insightful, Marx's Early Writings reveal a mind on the brink of one of the most revolutionary ideas in human history - the theory of Communism.This translation fully conveys the vigour of the original works. The introduction, by Lucio Colletti, considers the beliefs of the young Marx and explores these writings in the light of the later development of Marxism.Experiments on Reality
Par Tim Robinson. 2019
Long recognized as perhaps the greatest non-fiction writer at work in Ireland, for his vast, polymathic accounts of nature and…
culture in the Aran Islands and Connemara, Tim Robinson is also an essayist of genius whose fascinations range across the globe. In Experiments on Reality, he shines the light of his intelligence on his own life, and on some of the most fascinating questions in science and culture. Robinson brings us to his boyhood in Yorkshire, National Service in Malaya in the 1950s, and his years as a visual artist in Istanbul, Vienna and London. He revisits some of the scenes of his researches for the maps he made of Aran and Connemara, places that continue to throw up remarkable stories and puzzles. And he performs astonishing literary thought-experiments, playing with the boundaries of the essay form, scientific inquiry, and storytelling. Experiments on Reality is a masterpiece from one of the great minds of our time.'One of the greatest of all landscape writers ... When the material world is brought forth for us so beautifully, with such rapt attention and illuminating insight, we are reminded of how lucky we are to be part of it' Fintan O'Toole, Irish TimesPRAISE FOR THE CONNEMARA TRILOGY:'One of the most remarkable non-fiction projects undertaken in English' Robert MacFarlane, Spectator'Robinson is a marvel ... the supreme practitioner of geo-graphy, the writing of places' Fintan O'Toole, Observer Books of the Year'One of contemporary Ireland's finest literary stylists ... This is a book that does justice, in every sense of that phrase, to the frequently betrayed people whose stories it incarnates, and to their strange and beautiful corner of the world' Joseph O'Connor, Guardian'A masterpiece of travel and topographical writing and a miraculous, vivid and engrossing meditation on landscape and history and the sacred mood of places' Colm Tóibín, Irish Times Books of the Year'One of the finest of contemporary prose stylists' John Burnside, Irish Times'He is that rarest of phenomena, a scientist and an artist, and his method is to combine scientific rigour with artistic reverie in a seamless blend that both informs and delights.' John Banville, Guardian'Breathtaking ... the West of Ireland has found its ultimate laureate' Patricia Craig, TLS'Dazzling ... an indubitable classic' Giles Foden, Condé Nast TravellerThe Evils of Revolution
Par Edmund Burke. 2008
Written at a time when most of Europe supported the French Revolution, Edmund Burke’s prescient and, at the time, controversial…
denunciation of its mob rule predicted the Terror, began the modern conservative tradition and still serves as a warning to those who seek to reshape societies through violence. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves – and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives – and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.Read stories inspired by the four Underground lines that run East and West through city - part of a series…
of twelve books tied to the twelve lines of the London Underground, as Tfl celebrates 150 years of the Tube with Penguin. The District Line: John Lanchester, author of Whoops! and Capital takes us on a whirlwind tour of the Tube to show its secrets, just how much we take for granted about it, and what we're really talking about, since we so often do talk about it. In short, he shows what a marvel it is.The Central Line: Geographer Danny Dorling tells the stories of the people who live along 32 stops of the Central Line to illustrate the extent and impact of inequality in Britain today.The Piccadilly Line: Peter York, co-author of the 80s bestseller, The Sloane Ranger Handbook charts the progress of the dream of grandeur and aspiration in London and chronicles London's elites. The Hammersmith & City Line: Artist and filmmaker, Philippe Parreno, who created the documentary Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, takes us on a unique voyage through London - a journey without the typical purposes of a journey, an artistic, psychogeographical path.De Profundis and Other Prison Writings
Par Oscar Wilde. 2000
De Profundis and Other Prison Writings is a new selection of Oscar Wilde's prison letters and poetry in Penguin Classics,…
edited and introduced by Colm Tóibín.At the start of 1895, Oscar Wilde was the toast of London, widely feted for his most recent stage success, An Ideal Husband. But by May of the same year, Wilde was in Reading prison sentenced to hard labour. 'De Profundis' is an epistolic account of Oscar Wilde's spiritual journey while in prison, and describes his new, shocking conviction that 'the supreme vice is shallowness'. This edition also includes further letters to his wife, his friends, the Home Secretary, newspaper editors and his lover Lord Alfred Douglas - Bosie - himself, as well as 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol', the heart-rending poem about a man sentenced to hang for the murder of the woman he loved. This Penguin edition is based on the definitive Complete Letters, edited by Wilde's grandson Merlin Holland. Colm Tóibín's introduction explores Wilde's duality in love, politics and literature. This edition also includes notes on the text and suggested further reading. Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin. His three volumes of short fiction, The Happy Prince, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and A House of Pomegranates, together with his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, won him a reputation as a writer with an original talent, a reputation enhanced by the phenomenal success of his society comedies - Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest. Colm Tóibín is the author of five novels, including The Blackwater Lightship and The Master, and a collection of stories, Mothers and Sons. His essay collection Love in a Dark Time: Gay Lives from Wilde to Almodovar appeared in 2002. He is the editor of The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction.