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Forever in My Veins: How Film Led Me to the Mysterious World of the African Shaman
by Lionel FriedbergEmmy Award-winning producer and New York Times bestselling author Lionel Friedberg has spent 50 years making films as diverse as full-length theatrical features and television documentaries. After growing up in South Africa during the troubled era of apartheid he began his career during the dying days of colonialism in Central Africa. He eventually settled in Los Angeles where his work took him to the sound stages of Hollywood and to the most remote regions of the Earth. His career exposed him to the extraordinary wonders of our planet and brought him into close contact with many unforgettable personalities from maverick scientists to politicians, entertainers and people who survived near-death experiences. His observations have taught him that life is far more complex and infinitely stranger than we can imagine. When he was struck by an unexpected life-threatening illness his efforts to find a way to save his life took him back to Africa where he encountered the age-old rituals and powerful healing methods of African shamans. Their mysterious ways have much to teach us and are as relevant today as they were in ancient times.
The Coming Revolution: Capitalism in the 21st Century
by Ben ReynoldsA technological revolution is driving capitalism toward crisis and collapse. Can our society evolve in time to rescue the future? Radical advances in automation, robotics, and computer technology have thrown millions out of work and will only continue to do so in the years to come. At the same time, cheap, individually-accessible machines will wrestle for primacy with both gleaming highly-automated factories and sweatshops alike, ultimately eroding the dominance of industrial production. Economic growth is slowing down, and it is not going to speed up again. The pressures fueling today's global unrest will not go away and are only going to get worse as wages stagnate in many countries, solid employment becomes harder to find, and cuts to social benefits continue. Competing radical and reactionary ideologies will clash as political consensus crumbles and the world's peoples search for answers to these challenges. In its opening decades, the 21st will be a century of war and revolution. By the end of the 21st century, capitalism will be consigned to the history books. Despite the seeming darkness of our era, our future is filled with incredible possibility. If working people join together, we can create a world of freedom, beauty, and abundance, where poverty and tyranny are merely distant memories for our grandchildren. This is the story of The Coming Revolution.
Depth Charging Ice Planet Goth
by Andrez BergenShe's a disturbed, quiet girl, but Mina wants to do some good out there. It's just that the world gets in the way. This is Australia in the 1980s, a haven for goths and loners, where a coming-of-age story can only veer into a murder mystery.
Some Books Aren't for Reading
by Howard Marc ChesleyMitchell Fourchette is on a mission to retrieve his priceless, first-edition copy of The Old Man and the Sea, inscribed on the flyleaf by Papa Hemingway himself. He unearthed it at the bottom of a bin of castoffs at a thrift store in Anaheim, and then Helmet-Head, Mitchell&’s moped-driving book-scout competitor and nemesis, filched it. How, after an auspicious start at Hotchkiss and Yale, then a great job in advertising and a loving young family did Mitchell manage to lose it all and fall so far from grace? That is something that he can&’t help but contemplate while crusading through the dark recesses of Los Angeles as he struggles to retrieve his treasured book from a dishevelled, moped-driving Moriarty. 'Storytelling like T.C. Boyle, characters worthy of Robert Stone. Howard Marc Chesley creates compelling drama from everyday events, turning the life of an internet bookseller into a thriller. I couldn't stop reading.' David Webb Peoples, Writer of Blade Runner and Unforgiven
The Circle of the Snake: Nostalgia and Utopia in the Age of Big Tech
by Grafton TannerShocked by 9/11, the Great Recession, digital anxiety, and ecological collapse, the West suffers from nostalgia. People everywhere yearn for a utopian version of the past that never existed. Desperate for relief, many long to escape from the present. Some will stop at nothing to achieve it. In his essential new book, Grafton Tanner, author of Babbling Corpse: Vaporwave and the Commodification of Ghosts, argues that our nostalgia today is partly a consequence of the attention economy. At a time when historical literacy is crucial, and old prejudices are percolating into the present, Big Tech&’s predictive algorithms are locking us into nostalgic feedback loops. The result is a precarious society with its gaze fixed on the good old days. Spanning from the ancient Sophists to Black Mirror, The Circle of the Snake is at once a reckoning with the myth of digital utopia and an incisive analysis of nostalgia as a weapon to spread fascism.
A Serf's Journal: The Story of the United States' Longest Wildcat Strike
by Terry Tapp"...A Serf&’s Journal is a powerful and much-needed overdue call for solidarity today." Alfie Bown, Hong Kong Review of BooksRecalling the JeffBoat incident of 2001,A Serf's Journal is Terry Tapp's formidable first-hand account of American workers as they fight a multinational company and their corrupt union to stage the longest wildcat strike in US history.
Palmistry: From Apprentice To Pro In 24
by Johnny FinchamEver wanted to learn palmistry but been confused by the mumbo-jumbo? This no-nonsense book is for everyone and the most innovative approach to the subject in the last two hundred years. It draws on ground-breaking scientific research into individual fingerprint patterns, and is illustrated with images of actual hands, including those of Einstein, ex-UK prime minister Tony Blair and the hands of various celebrities. After only 24 hours of study, this book will enable you to see into the deepest realms of the human condition.
Telling Life's Tales: A Guide to Writing Life Stories for Print and Publication
by Sarah-Beth WatkinsTelling Life's Tales is a comprehensive guide to writing life stories. It helps writers and non-writers to decide what they want to tell of their lives and how they want to tell it. Giving practical advice and information, the reader will learn story structure, key elements of writing, how to plot and plan and how to check all their facts. Everyone has a tale to tell and this book will help those tales come alive. Whether you are 22 or 82, Telling Life's Tales will help the reader to put into words their most memorable recollections.
The Silence Diaries: A Novel
by Jennifer KavanaghSuzie and Orbs are in their thirties and have been together for a couple of years. Orbs reluctantly makes a living in the City and Suzie is a respected financial journalist, but each has another life hidden from the outside world... Their secret existence is threatened first when Suzie is offered a highly visible job, and then by an accident that turns their lives upside down. This is their struggle to survive as partners.
Pagan Portals - The First Sisters: Lilith and Eve
by Lady Haight-AshtonIt was said in the beginning, in a garden called Eden, that woman was created at the same time as man, and not from his rib. Lilith, the first female, created equal to stand as a partner. But she proved to be a person so troublesome that she vanishes from her rightful place in civilization&’s mythological legends in place of Eve, the first wife. With her younger sister Eve&’s story heralding the future of all womankind, Lilith and her story stands alone as a testament to the Sacred Feminine and man&’s fear of the mysteries that lie within her. The First Sisters: Lilith and Eve is a gateway to a provocative awakening.
The Corona Generation: Coming Of Age In A Crisis
by Jennie Bristow Emma Gilland'One of the UK's leading sociologists of generation uses both her scholarship and her ability to write beautifully to give meaning to the experience of Spring and Summer 2020.' Professor Ellie Lee, Director of the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies, University of KentIt is already clear that the COVID-19 crisis will have huge social and economic implications. The Corona Generation considers its effect on the generation currently coming of age: the demographic currently known as &‘Generation Z&’. A generation that was already considered to be teetering on the brink of an uncertain political, economic, and environmental future now finds itself entering an adulthood in which nothing can be taken for granted; where continuous crisis management is already presented as the &‘new normal&’.
Made in Brooklyn: Artists, Hipsters, Makers, and Gentrification
by Amanda WasielewskiMade in Brooklyn provides a belated critique of the Maker Movement: from its origins in the nineteenth century to its impact on labor and its entanglement in the neoliberal economic model of the tech industry. This critique is rooted in a case study of one neighborhood in Brooklyn, where artists occupy former factory buildings as makers. Although the Maker Movement promises to revitalize the city and its dying industrial infrastructure by remaking these areas as centers of small-scale production, it often falls short of its utopian ideals. Through her analysis of the Maker Movement, the author addresses broader questions around the nature of artistic work after the internet, as well as what the term &‘hipster&’ means in the context of youth culture, gentrification, labor, and the influence of the internet. Part history, part ethnography, this book is an attempt to provide a unified analysis of how the tech industry has infiltrated artistic practice and urban space.
Thera and the Exodus: The Exodus Explained in Terms of Natural Phenomena and the Human Response to It
by Riaan BooysenOf all the volcanic eruptions that shook the earth, two of the volcano on the Aegean island Thera, modern Santorini, are more important to the modern world than any other. Not only did they lead to the formation of the people known as the Israelites, but indirectly also gave birth to the god of Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The biblical Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is closely linked to these two eruptions, the second which occurred ca. 1450-1410 BCE during the reign of Amenhotep III, Egypt's golden pharaoh. The fallout of the eruption caused a deadly plague to break out in Egypt and to appease the perceived anger of the gods, Amenhotep ordered all firstborn in Egypt to be sacrificed in fires. His firstborn son, Crown Prince Tuthmosis, was first in line to be sacrificed, but was saved from the fire in the nick of time, an event recorded as the 'burning bush' episode in the Bible. Prince Tuthmosis became the biblical Moses and the events of that followed are now finally revealed.
Why Young People Don't Vote
by Mitchell AggWhy don't young people vote? It's a question that has been asked by pollsters for years. The 18- to 24-year-old demographic records the lowest voter turnout at elections and it doesn't look to be showing signs of stopping. Being one of this demographic, Mitchell Agg looks into this question and tries to shed light on why his peers don't enter polling stations on election day. Through four main reasons, Mitchell helps us answer this question as well as giving some solutions.
Last Observer: A Magical Battle for Reality
by G. Michael VaseyThe Last Observer is a compelling tale of magic, alternative realities, murder and conflict. An ordinary man is abruptly dragged into the middle of a violent struggle between black and white magicians who both seek to use his extraordinary powers of imagination and observation. He soon learns that reality is not at all what it seems before being called upon to play a decisive role in determining whose reality will prevail.
Coming From Nothing: A Thought Experiment Novella
by Matthew McKeeverComing From Nothing is a tragi-comic love story concerned with notions of identity, such as Judith Butler's idea that sexual identity isn't determined by the body, and John Locke's that personal identity is a question of memory. The first novella in Zero Books new series of Thought Experiment Novellas, these are books that work out philosophical arguments in their plots. Whether focusing on William James' determinism, Descartes' mind/body dualism, or Judith Butler's argument for gender performativity, these short books attempt to flesh out philosophical problems. They are stories wherein philosophical ideas have consequences, at least in the lives of the characters.
Borderlines: The Edges of US Capitalism, Immigration, And Democracy
by Daniel MeloThe current U.S. immigration nightmare is a product of capitalism. The familiar, heartbreaking stories of dangerous treks, migrant exploitation, asylum, family separation and detention all have their roots in the material conditions of the dominant economic system. Immigrants&’ place in American democracy has long been intertwined with questions of cheap labor and exploitation, sovereign power, and the preservation of class relations. Through different facets of the immigration system, Borderlines explores how power and profit are perpetuated by the divisions between migrant and citizen and the resulting dehumanization of both. It demonstrates the necessity of a radical working-class demand for economic and political justice across borders and the edges of democracy.
Falling Rate of Learning and the Neoliberal Endgame
by David BlackerThe current neoliberal mutation of capitalism has evolved beyond the days when the wholesale exploitation of labor underwrote the world system's expansion. While "normal" business profits plummet and theft-by-finance rises, capitalism now shifts into a mode of elimination that targets most of us--along with our environment--as waste products awaiting managed disposal. The education system is caught in the throes of this eliminationism across a number of fronts: crushing student debt, impatience with student expression, the looting of vestigial public institutions and, finally, as coup de grace, an abandonment of the historic ideal of universal education. "Education reform" is powerless against eliminationism and is at best a mirage that diverts oppositional energies. The very idea of education activism becomes a comforting fiction. Educational institutions are strapped into the eliminationist project--the neoliberal endgame--in a way that admits no escape, even despite the heroic gestures of a few. The school systems that capitalism has built and directed over the last two centuries are fated to go down with the ship. It is rational therefore for educators to cultivate a certain pessimism. Should we despair? Why, yes, we should--but cheerfully, as confronting elimination, mortality, is after all our common fate. There is nothing and everything to do in order to prepare.
Depression: Understanding the Black Dog
by Stephanie SorrellHaving suffered from major depression for much of her life, Stephanie Sorrell has learned to work with the disease rather than against it. Where so many mental-health books feature &‘fighting and overcoming&‘ depression, her experience and understanding have enabled her to see the value of the condition rather than what it can take away. In this easy-to-read introduction to depression Stephanie shows the various ways in which it manifests, what is available on a natural as well as chemical level and how the diversity of psychological therapies serve and hold depression. There is also a spiritual thread running through which invites the reader to go further...
Night: A Philosophy of the After-Dark
by Jason Bahbak MohagheghThis short book engages the myriad dimensions of Night, through ancient rituals, medieval storytelling, modern philosophy, and futuristic images, in order to explore the human experience of the after-dark. It thereby tracks Night through the prisms of its most fascinating practitioners: namely, those who keep strange hours and navigate the various potentialities of nocturnal experience (both of terror and enchantment). The Thief&’s Night; The Runaway&’s Night; The Drunkard&’s Night; The Insomniac&’s Night; The Revolutionary&’s Night; The Lunatic&’s Night; The Sorcerer&’s Night. Undoubtedly, each of these conceptual figures provides a unique gateway into understanding the powerful sensorial effects of evening, as well as its vast connections to larger questions of time, space, fear, nothingness, desire, death, forgetting, vision, secrecy, criminality, monstrosity, and the body.
Shooting the Moon
by Brian WillemsFilms about the moon show that even after the lunar landing of 1969 our celestial neighbor has lost none of its aptitude for being made of green cheese. In fact, as soon as you put the moon on screen it is lost. This is equally true for a wide range of moon films, including the theatricality of Méliès, the incredulity of camp, the illegibility of footage shot by Apollo astronauts and the revisionary history of Transformers 3. Yet, as paradoxical as it might seem at first, it is only when we "lose sight" of the moon that lunar truths begin to come forth. This is because fantastic elements of the moon—by their mere absurdity—can indicate non-fantastic elements. However, what is of interest here is not realistic or fantastic lunar truths but rather that the moon is an object which invites, or even demands, more than one truth at once.
Adventures of Pebble Beach
by Barbara BergerAttracted to the wrong men and don't understand why? Afraid of being alone, getting older and losing your sex appeal? A little sex crazed (or a lot)? And still dreaming of a man who can save you from your life? Chick Lit meets Self-Help in this high-spirited tale of a newly divorced, 40-something woman with two teenage sons who is trying to take control of her life, her sex-crazed body, and her new relationships with men - while struggling to build a career in advertising in the big city (plus going to quite a few therapy sessions). Until one day an unsavory business scandal threatens to ruin the burgeoning career of our brave heroine...
The Reiki Man (The Reiki Man Trilogy)
by Dominic C. JamesWhen Billionaire industrialist Henry Mulholland is murdered the police are left virtually clueless. The only evidence is a mysterious symbol left on his desk. Recognizing it Stella Jones Mulholland?s head of security and ex Special Branch joins the investigation. The symbol puts Stella on the trail of her enigmatic ex boyfriend Stratton. Along with Jennings her Special Branch chaperone Stella is led by Stratton into a dangerous world of ancient knowledge and supernatural powers. A world where her perception of the physical universe and her grip on reality are tested to the full. They embark on a journey that takes them beyond science and brings them into contact with a Hollywood star who dreams the future a homicidal biker a dispirited American agent a wily professor of parapsychology an ageing ninja with supernatural abilities and an elusive black panther.
How to Dismantle the English State Education System in 10 Easy Steps: The Academy Experiment
by Terry Edwards Carl Parsons'A sharp and incisive account of how state education has been dismantled into a system of competing Multi-Academy Trusts. We were told &‘choice' would deliver higher standards. It didn't. It made the system more chaotic, wasteful and segregated. This book explains how it was done.' Alasdair Smith, National Secretary, Anti Academies AllianceTerry Edwards and Carl Parsons tell the story of the takeover of England's schools by the super-efficient, modernising, academising machine, which, in collaboration with a dynamic, forward-looking government is recasting the educational landscape. England's school system is turbo-charged into a new era and will be the envy of the world, led by Chief Executives of Multi Academy Trusts on bankers' salaries, imposing a slim curriculum, the soundest of discipline regimes and ensuring that highest standards will be achieved even if at the expense of teacher morale, poor service to special needs, off-rolling of students and despite an absolute lack of evidence that this privatised system works.
Secrets of Creation: The Mystery of the Prime Numbers
by Matthew WatkinsThe Mystery of the Prime Numbers uses an innovative visual approach to communicate some surprisingly advanced mathematical ideas without any need for formulas or equations. The issue of prime numbers acts as a gateway into some truly strange philosophical territory whose relevance extends well beyond mathematics.