Lost in Thought

Author: Zena Hitz
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691229198
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 238

Book Description
An invitation to readers from every walk of life to rediscover the impractical splendors of a life of learning In an overloaded, superficial, technological world, in which almost everything and everybody is judged by its usefulness, where can we turn for escape, lasting pleasure, contemplation, or connection to others? While many forms of leisure meet these needs, Zena Hitz writes, few experiences are so fulfilling as the inner life, whether that of a bookworm, an amateur astronomer, a birdwatcher, or someone who takes a deep interest in one of countless other subjects. Drawing on inspiring examples, from Socrates and Augustine to Malcolm X and Elena Ferrante, and from films to Hitz's own experiences as someone who walked away from elite university life in search of greater fulfillment, Lost in Thought is a passionate and timely reminder that a rich life is a life rich in thought. Today, when even the humanities are often defended only for their economic or political usefulness, Hitz says our intellectual lives are valuable not despite but because of their practical uselessness. And while anyone can have an intellectual life, she encourages academics in particular to get back in touch with the desire to learn for its own sake, and calls on universities to return to the person-to-person transmission of the habits of mind and heart that bring out the best in us. Reminding us of who we once were and who we might become, Lost in Thought is a moving account of why renewing our inner lives is fundamental to preserving our humanity.

The Hidden Pleasures of Life

Author: Theodore Zeldin
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 0857053671
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Book Description
The story of a search for a new art of living. How can one escape from work colleagues who are bores and from organisations that thrive on stress? What new priorities can people give to their private lives? When the romantic ideal is disappointing, how else can affections be cultivated? If only a few can become rich, what substitute is there for dropping out? If religions and nations disagree, what other outcomes are possible beyond strife or doubt? Where there is too little freedom, what is the alternative to rebellion? When so much is unpredictable, what can replace ambition? Questions include: What is the great adventure of our time? What is a wasted life? How can people lose their illusions about themselves? What alternatives are there to being a rebel? What can the poor tell the rich? What could the rich tell the poor? How many ways of committing suicide are there? How can an unbeliever understand a believer? How can a religion change? How can prejudices be overcome? How can one think about the future, without trying to predict it or worrying about it? Is ridicule the most effective form of non-violent protest? How does one acquire a sense of humour? What stops people feeling completely at home in their own country? How many nations can one love at the same time? Why do so many people feel unappreciated, unloved and not fully alive? How else might women and men treat one another? What can replace the shortage of soul-mates? Is another kind of sexual revolution achievable? What can artists aim for beyond self-expression? What is more interesting than becoming a leader? What is the point of working so hard? Are there more amusing ways of earning a living? What else can one do in a hotel? What more can the young ask of their elders? Is remaining young at heart enough to avoid becoming old? What is worth knowing? What does it mean to be alive? Where can one find nourishment for the mind?

An Intimate History of Humanity

Author: Theodore Zeldin
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1448161991
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 498

Book Description
'The book that changed my life... a constant companion' Bill Bailey 'Extraordinary and beautiful...the most exciting and ambitious work of non-fiction I have read in more than a decade' The Daily Telegraph This extraordinarily wide-ranging study looks at the dilemmas of life today and shows how they need not have arisen. Portraits of living people and historical figures are placed alongside each other as Zeldin discusses how men and women have lost and regained hope; how they have learnt to have interesting conversations; how some have acquired an immunity to loneliness; how new forms of love and desire have been invented; how respect has become more valued than power; how the art of escaping from one's troubles has developed; why even the privileged are often gloomy; and why parents and children are changing their minds about what they want from each other.

An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures

Author: Clarice Lispector
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
ISBN: 0811230678
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 150

Book Description
Now in paperback, a romantic love story by the great Brazilian writer Lóri, a primary school teacher, is isolated and nervous, comfortable with children but unable to connect to adults. When she meets Ulisses, a professor of philosophy, an opportunity opens: a chance to escape the shipwreck of introspection and embrace the love, including the sexual love, of a man. Her attempt, as Sheila Heti writes in her afterword, is not only “to love and to be loved,” but also “to be worthy of life itself.” Published in 1968, An Apprenticeship is Clarice Lispector’s attempt to reinvent herself following the exhausting effort of her metaphysical masterpiece The Passion According to G. H. Here, in this unconventional love story, she explores the ways in which people try to bridge the gaps between them, and the result, unusual in her work, surprised many readers and became a bestseller. Some appreciated its accessibility; others denounced it as sexist or superficial. To both admirers and critics, the olympian Clarice gave a typically elliptical answer: “I humanized myself,” she said. “The book reflects that.”

Secret Pleasures

Author: Thea Devine
Publisher: Kensington Books
ISBN: 9781575665832
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Book Description
Forced into a marriage of convenience with a dissolute older lord, beautiful, innocent Lady Genelle Tisne has little knowledge of true passion. When she finds herself the prime suspect in the murder of her husband, she hires enigmatic private investigator Rulan Roak and is swept into a secret world of forbidden temptations and sensual abandon where every seduction has its pleasures and its price.

Eye of My Heart

Author: Barbara Graham
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061474150
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 326

Book Description
This compilation of 28 original essays by noted journalists, novelists, and essayists--each one a grandmother--delves into what it means to be a grandmother today.

Hidden Pleasures

Author: Brenda Jackson
Publisher: Kimani Press
ISBN: 1426856563
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 219

Book Description
All she has to do is be his lover for a week… And when the man is gorgeous Galen Steele, what woman could possibly say no? Brittany Thrasher has her own hidden motives for accepting Galen's proposal. Only the savvy businesswoman draws the line at actually falling for the sexy playboy. Even if he is the incredible lover of her most taboo fantasies…. The moment their paths crossed again at an auction, Galen knew Brittany was special. If she wants the house he just won so badly, how far is she willing to go to get it? That's when the Phoenix entrepreneur makes her an offer he fully expects her to refuse. But once their passion heats up, the bidding really begins. And Galen will uncover Brittany's secret. Because this determined man of Steele isn't about to let the woman of his dreams get away….

How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like

Author: Paul Bloom
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 039307711X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Book Description
"Engaging, evocative…[Bloom] is a supple, clear writer, and his parade of counterintuitive claims about pleasure is beguiling." —NPR Why is an artistic masterpiece worth millions more than a convincing forgery? Pleasure works in mysterious ways, as Paul Bloom reveals in this investigation of what we desire and why. Drawing on a wealth of surprising studies, Bloom investigates pleasures noble and seamy, lofty and mundane, to reveal that our enjoyment of a given thing is determined not by what we can see and touch but by our beliefs about that thing’s history, origin, and deeper nature.

The Little Pleasures of Paris

Author: Leslie Jonath
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 1452148945
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 114

Book Description
A book of illustrations celebrating French culture and must-see sites in the capital of France—a perfect gift for a travel lover or Paris enthusiast. Take an enchanting tour of Paris’s most charming places, objects, and pastimes in this lovingly compiled Francophile handbook. Organized by season, The Little Pleasures of Paris takes the reader through a year’s worth of quintessentially Parisian experiences, from secret gardens bursting with roses to exotic plumage at the city’s bird market, candied violets at Paris’s oldest sweet shop, dazzling colors in the stained glass at Sainte-Chapelle, and more. The friendly text and whimsical illustrations make this delightful ebook a poetic letter to the City of Light. Unusual details that might otherwise go unnoticed are celebrated and offer a uniquely intimate perspective in this triomphe of je ne sais quoi and joi de vivre!

This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch

Author: Tabitha Carvan
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593421914
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
Why We Can’t Sleep meets Furiously Happy in this hilarious, heartfelt memoir about one woman’s midlife obsession with Benedict Cumberbatch, and the liberating power of reclaiming our passions as we age, whatever they may be. Tabitha Carvan was a new mother, at home with two young children, when she fell for the actor Benedict Cumberbatch. You know the guy: strange name, alien face, made Sherlock so sexy that it became one of the most streamed shows in the world? The force of her fixation took everyone—especially Carvan herself—by surprise. But what she slowly realized was that her preoccupation was not about Benedict Cumberbatch at all, as dashing as he might be. It was about finally feeling passionate about something, anything, again at a point in her life when she had lost touch with her own identity and sense of self. In This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch, Carvan explores what happens to women's desires after we leave adolescence…and why the space in our lives for pure, unadulterated joy is squeezed ever smaller as we age. She shines a light onto the hidden corners of fandom, from the passion of the online communities to the profound real-world connections forged between Cumberbatch devotees. But more importantly, she asks: what happens if we simply decide to follow our interests like we used to—unabashedly, audaciously, shamelessly? After all, Carvan realizes, there’s true, untapped power in finding your “thing” (even if that thing happens to be a British-born Marvel superhero) and loving it like your life depends on it.