As a postgraduate student, I didn't find this particularly helpful. Maybe ok for undergraduate or even earlier level of education - might be helpful to a person who never wrote a case study and does not plan to write another one after doing it once. This tiny book is more like a blog post with a book cover.
Note: it focuses on how to write a case study as a separate paper rather than use it as a research method in a bigger paper.
Instead of being called "Relationships", the book could have been titled "Good Enough Relationships".
Not the worst read in the world, but a bit disappointing after reading a few other books by The School of Life: it get's really repetitive.
Though I appreciate the de-Botton-like optimism and author's pathological ability to see the bright side of the disappointing life-scenarios, some of the concepts may seem a bit overreached and self-serving. I couldn't shake the feeling the book was rationalizing some of the personal failures instead of researching the relationships in a greater depth, as the book doesn't mention focus, balance, or growth, though rightly emphasizes the value of conversation.
To conclude, it's all black and white according to this book - you're either a naive romantic doomed to failure on a grandiose scale or a practical mature individual with no concept of romantic expectations. But is it really that simple? Humans are complicated, they're rarely one or another. Can't one be both? Can't one romanticise their expectations and still be able to accept a practical reality? Will all relationships fail, no expectations will be met, and the only way to survive the process is to accept it? Honestly, I am too young to agree with this conclusion.
A hilarious read based on a common sense attitude to the power of positive thinking. The author argues not to follow the cult of self-motivating optimism, but rather find happiness through the back door - by actually not trying to be happy and embracing everything we spend our lives trying to avoid: pessimism, failure, and uncertainty.
Very well written, funny, and insightful read based on field-research (everything from meditation camps to stadium-sized motivational events), interviews, and parallels with classic philosophy.
Thoughtful and deep read, as the rest of Fromm's books, but (to my surprise and in contrast to Art of Loving), this wasn't a pure stream of thought, but rather a selection of his unpublished papers, or transcripts of talks he gave in different stages of his life.
There is a big emphasis on Meister Eckhart and Karl Marx through the book, which I've probably should have investigated before starting to read it, but in the end, it's all about being human, as the title on the cover says. And though the theme is investigated through case studies from Marxism to Vietnam War, from Buddhist Zen to Eckhart, I couldn't escape the thought that these case studies were there just to support Fromm's personal views, without challenging them – as if they were different dialects of the same language.
One of my favourite books ever, and one of a few I've read more than once. I tend to come back to Sontag again and again, which is somewhat ironic, as I don't do a lot of photography nor do I have a deep interest in it, though on the other hand, I am (as, apparently, the whole industrialised society is) an image-junkie.
The book becomes only more relevant with time, as we produce and consume more and more imagery. I would have loved to see what Sontag had to say about cell-phone camera's, the new genre of selfies, and social media overflown with glimpses of our private lives, or at least carefully curated pseudo-happy representations of it. I can only wonder.
Original review, 2012
Absolutely loved this book from the first page to the very end - good weekend read for those like me who can not photograph and who hardly could appreciate good photography without additional knowledge. Book is beautifully written - no 'smart' technical terms, no historic facts for historic facts sake, just pure Sontag: no sentence without a meaning, nothing you could add or take out. A lot of introductions into smaller aspects of a whole genre concluding with a lot of very clear conclusions makes it easier to learn new things and sometimes even makes one smile; for example among portrait photography, war photography, commercial photography Sontag did not forget to analyze tourist photography or family photography as a contemporary ritual. It is not a "how to" book, it is not a history of photography, but a deeper look to what photography actually is and what it gave to society and to an individual. Most amazing thing is that first Sontag's essays on photography were written in early 70's before social media and internet, but every word still resonates with contemporary society.
Fell asleep twice. An agony full of post-marxist cliches, e.g. "Trojan horse of neo-liberalism" or "American hegemony". The book is as slow, as leftist, as lost in time and space, as the whole Europe is. Parts on artistic practices and the interview in the end would be more than enough.
Of course, Boris Groys is one of the most fascinating minds of our times. Of course, it's absolutely crucial that minds of this caliber investigate issues he investigates in real time. But the lack of "arguably" in this book is a definition of Groys - a monologue, a talking head, someone who knows all the answers and offers them to the world. No questions are raised, no gap for further discussion defined.
With age, I become only more wary of someone who already knows everything.
An attempt to define globalization through human experience (and specific case studies). Not an easy read though, full of academic terminology. I found it hard to find the connection between the chapters, though I'm sure it makes more sense to a more educated reader. A book for specialized and repetitive reading, not something one should skim through (though that's exactly what I did in parts of it).
The book investigates value in non-economic terms through series of essays and interviews on uncertainty, conceptual art, time, alternative social modules, human experience, experimental architecture, etc. It may seem a bit random at first, but the idea of tackling different ways to reformulate value is the whole point of this anthology. A good read for those just starting to investigate the issue, as long bibliographies after each essay hint towards further research on a particular subject.
An interesting read about new economy model that sums up to "you are what you share" conclusion. Though the author leans to the optimistic approach to sharing ideas (mostly through web), he still manages to include some criticism to his own ideas into the book, which gives it a bit more depth. Unfortunately, the author almost misses the point that sharing an idea, patent, copyright and so forth should be the decision of the author - an individual - not the faceless mass of activists surrounding the author. And this, in my opinion, is the biggest weakness of the book - it focuses only on mass power and misses the role of individual authorship, individual responsibility and an individual him/herself in this new shared economy.
Read it only because it was in a literature list for my MA course, but it is a decent read, especially if you have nothing to do on an airplane.
The upside of the book:
• Not too overly-positive or overly-optimistic (as most of such books are).
• Case-study based: focuses on innovations in different sectors - from jeans to high-tech industry.
• Investigates universities role in innovating (my favorite chapter), though only in the context of the US.
The downside:
• Some of the cases studies seemed a bit old (e.g. the birth of mobile phone technology).
• Case studies didn't seem to lead to a larger conclusion.
John Berger's ('one of the most influential intellectuals of our time' according to the Observer) "Ways of Seeing" is one of those books that I wish someone had told me about when I was a student. Someone could have saved me hours wasted in galleries and museums trying to keep a straight face pretending I understood what I was looking at.
Well, I knew few dates and few names of the painters, knew something about their place in art history and could appreciate their craftsmanship, but I had almost no deeper understanding, or at least a clear method of reading art beyond that. So I'm deeply thankful to John Berger for pointing my attention to:
A different meaning that words and our own emotions bring to the art piece.
Status and power that content of classical European oil paintings ensured to the owner;
Gender issues and portrayal of the female body (I love how Berger draws a clear line between terms 'nude' and 'naked');
An analysis of glamour as an invention of industrial society in modern times during which 'The pursuit of individual happiness has been acknowledged as a universal right. Yet the existing social conditions make the individual feel powerless' (p.148). And I'm pretty sure, no one ever forgot to show this book to people in advertising business.
I guess Berger summed up a lot of things that intuitively were floating in my head, but could not be described in my own words. And though 'seeing comes before words' according to Berger himself, now, after reading his book, I have a clear starting point and few keywords in my head every time I start to analyse any visual in front of me.
The book contains and extends ideas firstly presented in "A BAFTA award-winning series with John Berger, which rapidly became regarded as one of the most influential art programmes ever made." (BBC2)
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In the first programme Berger examines the impact of photography on our appreciation of art from the past.
This second programme deals with the portrayal of the female nude, an important part of the tradition of European art. Berger examines these paintings and asks whether they celebrate women as they really are or only as men would like them to be.
With the invention of oil paint around 1400, painters were able to portray people and objects with an unprecedented degree of realism, and painting became the ideal way to celebrate private possessions. In this programme, John Berger questions the value we place on that tradition.
In this programme, Berger analyses the images of advertising and publicity and shows how they relate to the tradition of oil painting - in moods, relationships and poses.
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'A snap in the face of the art establishment ... Ways of Seeing revolutionized the way that Fine Art is read and understood' - Guardian.
As someone who promises herself to read more in every New Year Resolution, but finds it hard to participate in global dialogue while living in Vilnius, I do my best to stay updated on book culture, which starts but does not end with researching authors or particular subjects. And so, this post is on niche little things related with the passion for a good read rather than a particular book titles.
Though I come from a family of 3 scientists and 1 illustrator (that would be me), I wont pretend I read this blog constantly, but I do look at it once in a while. Because vintage science illustrations and info-graphics are pretty. And because this blog reminds me of amount of subjects, books, and authors I had no idea about, which is good for moving forward, as my head was always full of random facts rather than structured information, and I don't plan to change that anytime soon. The Science Book Store blog was started by owners of JF Ptak Science Books store that specializes in 'unusual, rare and unique material in the sciences and the history of science, with strong concentrations in quantum theory, astrophysics, atomic physics, computer science and thermodynamics. Also of principle interest are the developing years of new fields of science and technology–the telephone to 1890, computer science to 1955, telegraphy to 1870, automobiles to 1900, powered heavier-than-air flight to 1920, space flight to 1962, and so on.'*
My favorite Categories would be: Bad ideas (just because someone actually thought of it as a separate category), Art History (because the angle here is different from other Art History blogs), Color Theory (can't blame me, I'm just an illustrator starving for any visual inspiration), and History of Nothing (because nothing could attract one's attention more than Nothing). Posts are mostly based on particular books and authors, give it a try, at least scroll through it, and you'll see that a word "science" will not be the same word anymore.
A visual blog by Ourit Ben-Haim, focusing on people reading in the underground: 'The Underground New York Public Library is a photo series featuring the Reading-Riders of the NYC subways. The photos come together as a visual library. This library freely lends out a reminder that we’re capable of traveling to great depths within ourselves and as a whole.'*. What I love about it, is that next to every photograph, there is a book title. A book becomes more than a creation of an author: it's meaning is changed by a person who reads it in that very moment - how a person looks, how he or she stands and holds a book, how shabby the book cover is, and what surrounds the reader adds a different angle to every title. Reading is a journey and this blog is exactly about that. P.S.I never was able to read a book in public transport (or in any transport), well, I thought I wasn't, until my Kindle met a trolleybus.
Brain Pickings is 'your cross-disciplinary LEGO treasure chest, full of pieces spanning art, design, science, technology, philosophy, history, politics, psychology, sociology, ecology, anthropology, and more; pieces that enrich your mental pool of resources and empower combinatorial ideas that are stronger, smarter, richer, deeper and more impactful.'* by Maria Popova and occasional guest contributors. Though a description of the blog may seem very wide and unfocused, but Brain Pickings is a great place for those who start researching on one of its subjects (for academical essay or any other reason) - beautifully put accents and tons of references will help you find what you're looking for or what you even didn't know you're looking for, even if the information is outside of the blog. P.S. This blog is responsible for me coming across with modern classics, such as Susan Sontag essays, which I'll be grateful to Maria Popova for the rest of my life.
(Because everyone has picked up a book based on it's cover at least once)
This blog is a never ending course on how words can be translated into visuals and how one can be intrigued by the translation. I find this blog better than fffffound or any other collection of graphic images online, because it is so so good - it is a book cover genre at it's best. And to be honest, a good book cover is one of the last reasons I actually do buy a paper copy of a book once in a while instead of downloading it straight to my kindle in few seconds. And by buying I mean going to a local book store, ordering a book from overseas, waiting for it for 4 weeks and paying for it much more than an e-book would cost. Why? - Just because I could own a book cover that will be hidden in a bookshelf, and only me will know about it hiding there. You may say its superficial and you may be right, but a good book cover, where type meets a title, and one's own fantasy is inspired by a visual based on someone's own interpretation (before even starting to read the text inside), is a message and an experience on its own rights, and this blog shows exactly that. My personal favorites are:
Amerika, Author: Franz Kafka
Publisher: Penguin Classics, Publication Date: November 30, 1999, Genre: Fiction
Design Info:Photographer: Jacob Sutton, Designer: Mother, Typeface: Hand Lettered
Milk, Author: Anne Mendelson, Publisher: Knopf Publication, Date: October 7, 2008, Genre: Non-Fiction, Design Info: Designer: Barbara DeWilde
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“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
Just started Susan Sontag's "On Photography". As probably all of her essays and novels, it's beautifully written and I think this is the only book on photography that I would ever start to read, as I've never was interested in a genre at all. But how can you not love the book, when from the first page it's full of quotations like: "In teaching us a new visual code, photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at and what we have a right to observe. They are a grammar and, even more importantly, an ethics of seeing".
"... but it was ever thus, all through my life: whenever I have
diverged from custom and principle and uttered a truth, the rule has
been that the hearer hadn't strength of mind enough to believe it" -
Mark Twain
I understand where you're coming from, Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Honestly.
once again i've heard THE question of this year: will new technologies kill old-fashioned 'still' illustration?
for me the best way answer this is: would you teach your kid to read from a Kindle? - i wouldn't.
so i think children will get used to printed illustration from an early age anyway, and so as tv didn't kill a book, as a computer didn't kill a book, as any other screen-based thingy will not manage to do that.
So, illustrators, just keep calm and carry on. Its all good.
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I'm going deeper underground, there is too much panic in this town.
