In A Short Book About Painting writer & broadcaster Andrew Marr tackles the subjects of inspiration creativity politics beauty & form How does the artist make good work? What constitutes good? How important is technique
- & the imagination? Following a serious stroke in 2013 that left him partially paralysed Marr struggled with the physical rigours of painting using oils This led to his wrestling with some of the very fundamental questions about painting as an art form in itself
- & to interrogate himself daily about brushstrokes colour balance line & texture Using his own work in progress as examples of failures & examples of techniques from classical artists right up to the present day Marr examines how the painter can improve & learn from his or her mistakes Marr's provocative political & instructive book is not just an essential resource for all amateur painters it is a must-read for anyone fascinated by the creative process & the limits of human artistic achievement

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As Graeme Williams states readers of John Milton & Beatrix Potter will know reading about bad characters tends to be much more fun than reading about good ones I confess to thinking that Paradise Lost & the Tales of Mr Tod & of Two Bad Mice are all more entertaining to read than Paradise Regained or the Flopsy Bunnies & I have found that the same is true about writing about judges' While there are plenty of books about Good English Judges indeed their goodness' may well have been one of their authors' main reasons for writing them there is as yet no book specifically about Bad Judges in this country though there are quite a few in the United States No doubt there are a number of reasons for this the law of libel within its limits protects the living & the old maxim de mortuis nil nisi bonum' may protect the dead at least for a decent interval post mortem' In recent times there have been fewer Bad Judges than in the past even though there are now more judges at every level than there were fifty years ago The position today is no doubt the result of our modern & on the whole very sensible & worthwhile practice of appointing new' permanent judges only after they have attended judicial training have sat as a judge in a part-time temporary judicial post before appointment & have performed in that capacity well enough to justify long-term judicial office ...

This textbook teaches the basics of French grammar reinforcing its lessons with exercises & key practice translations A systematic guide the volume is a critical companion for university-level students learning to read & translate written French into English; for graduate scholars learning to do research in French or prepping for proficiency exams; & for any interested readers who want to improve their facility with the French language In addition A Short Course in Reading French exposes readers to a broad range of French texts from the humanities & social sciences including writings by distinguished francophone authors from around the world The book begins with French pronunciation & cognates & moves through nouns articles & prepositions; verbs adjectives & adverbs; a graduated presentation of all the indicative & subjunctive tenses; object relative & other pronouns; the passive voice; common idiomatic constructions; & other fundamental building blocks of the French language Chapters contain translation passages from such authors as Pascal Montesquieu Proust Sartre Bourdieu Senghor Cesaire de Certeau de Beauvoir Barthes & Kristeva Drawn from more than two decades of experience teaching French to students from academic & nonacademic backgrounds Celia Brickman&s clear accessible & time-tested format enables even beginners to develop a sophisticated grasp of the language & become adept readers of French There is an answer key for translation exercises & for non-copyrighted translation passages available to professors & teachers who have assigned this title in a class Please provide your name title institution & number of students in the course in an email to columbiauniversitypress ...

The nations of Asia now make up more than half of the world's population With increasingly affluent educated middle classes & vigorous innovative industries they are more populous & powerful than ever before & their influence on the rest of the world is only growing Colin Mason provides a clear readable introduction to their histories & traditions from the Stone Age right up to the present day This thoroughly revised updated & expanded third edition contains new chapters on Mongolia Nepal & Bhutan separate expanded chapters on the South Asian nations & revised chapters on all the modern states A new introduction explores the nature & implications of the new politics of 'guided democracy' & the current clash between industrialisation & the consequences of climate change Enriched with maps & a guide to further reading this book is the essential guide to the history of a fascinating continent & its peoples ...

By the author of the Sunday Times no 1 bestseller The Etymologicon Almost every culture on earth has drink & where there's drink there's drunkenness But in every age & in every place drunkenness is a little bit different It can be religious it can be sexual it can be the duty of kings or the relief of peasants It can be an offering to the ancestors or a way of marking the end of a day's work It can send you to sleep or send you into battle A Short History of Drunkenness traces humankind's love affair with booze from our primate ancestors through to Prohibition answering every possible question along the way What did people drink? How much? Who did the drinking? Of the many possible reasons why? On the way learn about the Neolithic Shamans who drank to communicate with the spirit world (no pun intended) marvel at how Greeks got giddy & Romans got rat-arsed & find out how bars in the Wild West were never quite like in the movies This is a history of the world at its inebriated best ...

A brisk concise & readable overview of Irish history from the Protestant Reformation to the dawn of the twenty-first century Five centuries of Irish history are explored in this informative & accessible volume John Gibney proceeds from the beginning of Ireland's modern period & continues through to virtually the present day offering an integrated overview of the island nation's cultural political & socioeconomic history This succinct scholarly study covers important historical events including the Cromwellian conquest & settlement the Great Famine & the struggle for Irish independence Gibney's book explores major themes such as Ireland's often contentious relationship with Britain its place within the British Empire the impact of the Protestant Reformation the ongoing religious tensions it inspired & the global reach of the Irish diaspora This unique wide-ranging work assimilates the most recent scholarship on a wide range of historical controversies making it an essential addition to the library of any student of Irish studies ...

Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller but even when he stays safely at home he can&t contain his curiosity about the world around him A Short History of Nearly Everything is his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization
- how we got from there being nothing at all to here being us Bill Bryson&s challenge is to take subjects that normally bore the pants off most of us like geology chemistry & particle physics & see if there isn&t some way to render them comprehensible to people who have never thought they could be interested in science The ultimate eye-opening journey through time & space A Short History of Nearly Everything is the biggest-selling popular science book of the 21st century & reveals the world in a way most of us have never seen it before
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A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson&s quest to find out everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization
- how we got from there being nothing at all to here being us His challenge is to take subjects that normally bore the pants off most of us & see if there isn&t some way to render them comprehensible to people who have never thought they could be interested in science It&s not so much about what we know as about how we know what we know How do we know what is in the centre of the Earth or what a black hole is or where the continents were 600 million years ago? How did anyone ever figure these things out? On his travels through time & space Bill Bryson takes us with him on the ultimate eye-opening journey & reveals the world in a way most of us have never seen it before
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The industrial revolution stands out as a key event not simply in British history but in world history ushering in as it did a new era of sustained economic prosperity 204 pages XIII 204 p Griffin Emma ...

The extraordinary creative energy of Renaissance Italy lies at the root of modern Western culture In her elegant new introduction Virginia Cox offers a fresh vision of this iconic moment in European cultural history when
- between the fourteenth & sixteenth centuries
- Italy led the world in painting building science & literature Her book explores key artistic literary & intellectual developments but also histories of food & fashion map-making exploration & anatomy Alongside towering figures such as Leonardo da Vinci Michelangelo Raphael Petrarch Machiavelli & Isabella d' Este Cox reveals a cast of lesser-known protagonists including printers travel writers actresses courtesans explorers inventors & even celebrity chefs At the same time Italy's rich regional diversity is emphasised; in addition to the great artistic capitals of Florence Rome & Venice smaller but cutting-edge centres such as Ferrara Mantua Bologna Urbino & Siena are given their due As the author demonstrates women played a far more prominent role in this exhilarating resurgence than was recognized until very recently
- both as patrons of art & literature & as creative artists themselves ' Renaissance woman' she boldly argues is as important a legacy as ' Renaissance man'


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