An invaluable guide for both casual opera fans and aficionados, 100 Great Operas is perhaps the most comprehensive and enjoyable volume of opera stories ever written. ,From La Traviata to A??da, from Carmen to Don Giovanni, here are the plots of the world???s best-loved operas, told in an engaging, picturesque, and readable manner. Written by noted opera authority Henry W. Simon, this distinctive reference book contains act-by-act descriptions of 100 operatic works ranging from the historic early seventeenth century masterpieces of Monteverdi to the modern classics of Gian-Carlo Menotti.,In addition to highlighting the most important aspects of each opera, the author discusses the main characters, the famous turnings of plot, and the most significant arias. Here, too, is a wealth of anecdotes concerning literary background, past performances and stars, and production problems of the great operas.
Celebrate the pleasure of reading and the thrill of discovering new titles in an extraordinary book that???s as compulsively readable, entertaining, surprising, and enlightening as the 1,000-plus titles it recommends.,Covering fiction, poetry, science and science fiction, memoir, travel writing, biography, children???s books, history, and more, ,ranges across cultures and through time to offer an eclectic collection of works that each deserve to come with the recommendation, You have to read this. But it???s not a proscriptive list of the ???great works??????rather, it???s a celebration of the glorious mosaic that is our literary heritage.,Flip it open to any page and be transfixed by a fresh take on a very favorite book. Or come across a title you always meant to read and never got around to. Or, like browsing in the best kind of bookshop, stumble on a completely unknown author and work, and feel that tingle of discovery. There are classics, of course, and unexpected treasures, too. Lists to help pick and choose, like Offbeat Escapes, or A Long Climb, but What a View. And its alphabetical arrangement by author assures that surprises await on almost every turn of the page, with Cormac McCarthy and , next to Robert McCloskey and , Alice Walker next to Izaac Walton. ,There are nuts and bolts, too???best editions to read, other books by the author, ???if you like this, you???ll like that??? recommendations , and an interesting endnote of adaptations where appropriate. Add it all up, and in fact there are more than six thousand titles by nearly four thousand authors mentioned???a life-changing list for a lifetime of reading.
Best-selling author Chris Guillebeau presents a full-color ideabook featuring 100 stories of regular people launching successful side businesses that almost anyone can do.,Chris Guillebeau, self-employment guru, author of ,, and creator of the popular , podcast, presents a collection of the top hundred side-gig case studies from both his podcast and his personal files, featuring jewelry makers, website founders, food truck bakers, and more. With inspiring anecdotes alongside bullet-point takeaways, this playbook will not only inspire you to follow in these innovators’ entrepreneurial footsteps but also achieve similar business success. From identifying underserved markets to crafting unique products and services that spring from your passions, you’ll soon be making money on the side while living your best life.
We design to elicit responses from people. We want them to buy something, read more, or take action of some kind. Designing without understanding what makes people act the way they do is like exploring a new city without a map: results will be haphazard, confusing, and inefficient. This book combines real science and research with practical examples to deliver a guide every designer needs. With it you’ll be able to design more intuitive and engaging work for print, websites, applications, and products that matches the way people think, work, and play.,Learn to increase the effectiveness, conversion rates, and usability of your own design projects by finding the answers to questions such as:,These are just a few of the questions that the book answers in its deep-dive exploration of what makes people tick.,When we design, we solicit responses from people. We want them to do something. ,is a solid design-psychology hybrid book that teaches you how to be more effective at guiding these responses.,Tackling some central UX design thinking questions such as “,” and “,”, , guides you through practical steps to increase the effectiveness, conversion rates, and usability of your UX design.,Like many good UX books, ,is not written to be read continuously. Instead, it will prove far more valuable over time as you reference it and build on your foundational knowledge of design thinking and UX design knowledge.
What do major artists consider their best-kept secret? What is regarded as confidential knowledge among the key players of the global art market? In 100 Secrets of the Art World, the most powerful international individuals share their insights.,Edited by Thomas Girst and Magnus Resch (author of the bestselling Management of Art Galleries), this indispensable and fun guide to contemporary art contains exclusive anecdotes, advice and personal stories from artists, museum directors, gallerists, auction house insiders, collectors and many more. Contributors include Jeff Koons, Zaha Hadid, Marina Abramovic, ??lafur El??asson and John Baldessari, as well as directors and curators from the Centre Pompidou, the Guggenheim, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, the Nationalgalerie and elsewhere, including Philip Tinari, Hans Neuendorf, Matthew Slotover, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Daniel Birnbaum, Klaus Biesenbach, Jeffrey Deitch, Larry Gagosian, Alexandra Munroe and others.,Thoughtful and often critical entries make this informative publication an entertaining read for anyone interested in contemporary art.,Thomas Girst is an art historian and the worldwide Head of Cultural Engagement at the BMW Group. His most recent publications include The Duchamp Dictionary (2014) and Art, Literature, and the Japanese American Internment (2015).,Magnus Resch is an author, art entrepreneur and lecturer. His most recent publications include the Art Collector Report (2015) and the bestseller Management of Art Galleries (2015).
In 24/6, Tiffany Shlain explores how turning off screens one day a week can work wonders on your brain, body, and soul.,Internet pioneer and renowned filmmaker Tiffany Shlain takes us on a provocative and entertaining journey through time and technology, introducing a strategy for living in our 24/7 world: turning off all screens for twenty-four hours each week. This practice, which she???s done for nearly a decade with her husband and kids (sixteen and ten), has completely changed their lives, giving them more time, productivity, connection, and presence. She and her family call it ???Technology Shabbat.???,Drawn from the ancient ritual of Shabbat, living 24/6 can work for anyone from any background. With humor and wisdom, Shlain shares her story, offers lessons she has learned, and provides a blueprint for how to do it yourself. Along the way, she delves into the neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, and history of a weekly day of rest across cultures, making the case for why we need to bring this ritual back.,A compelling personal story and a fascinating, far-reaching examination of the complex world we???ve created, 24/6 is a call to rebalance ourselves and our society.
In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492.,Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. The astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had running water and immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city. Mexican cultures created corn in a specialized breeding process that it has been called man???s first feat of genetic engineering. Indeed, Indians were not living lightly on the land but were landscaping and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. Challenging and surprising, this a transformative new look at a rich and fascinating world we only thought we knew.
A hands-on, practical survival guide from retired Navy SEAL Clint Emerson???adapted for civilians from actual special forces operations???to eluding pursuers, evading capture, and surviving any dangerous situation.,In today???s increasingly dangerous world, threats to your personal safety are everywhere. From acts of terror to mass shootings, and from the unseen (and sometimes virtual) matrix of everyday crime, danger is no longer confined to dark alleys or unstable regions. Potentially life-threatening circumstances can arise anywhere, anytime, and Clint Emerson???former Navy SEAL???wants you to be prepared.,contains proven self-defense skills, evasion tactics, and immobilizing maneuvers???modified from the world of black ops???to help you take action in numerous ???worst case??? scenarios from escaping a locked trunk, to making an improvised Taser, to tricking facial recognition software. With easy-to-understand instructions and illustrations, Emerson outlines in detail many life-saving strategies and teaches you how to think and act like a member of the special forces.,This complete course in survival teaches you how to prevent tracking, evade a kidnapping, elude an active shooter, rappel down the side of a building, immobilize a bad guy, protect yourself against cyber-criminals, and much more???all using low-tech to ???no-tech??? methods. Clear, detailed, and presented in an easy-to-understand and execute format, , is an invaluable resource. Because let???s face it, when danger is imminent, you don???t have time for complicated instructions.
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From a rising star at , , a deeply immersive chronicle of how the optimistic entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley set out to create a free and democratic internet???and how the cynical propagandists of the alt-right exploited that freedom to propel the extreme into the mainstream.,For several years, Andrew Marantz, a, staff writer, has been embedded in two worlds. The first is the world of social-media entrepreneurs, who, acting out of na??vete and reckless ambition, upended all traditional means of receiving and transmitting information. The second is the world of the people he calls “the gate crashers”???the conspiracists, white supremacists, and nihilist trolls who have become experts at using social media to advance their corrosive agenda. , ranges broadly???from the first mass-printed books to the trending hashtags of the present; from secret gatherings of neo-Fascists to the White House press briefing room???and traces how the unthinkable becomes thinkable, and then how it becomes reality. Combining the keen narrative detail of Bill Buford’s ,and the sweep of George Packer’s ,, , reveals how the boundaries between technology, media, and politics have been erased, resulting in a deeply broken informational landscape???the landscape in which we all now live.,Marantz shows how alienated young people are led down the rabbit hole of online radicalization, and how fringe ideas spread???from anonymous corners of social media to cable TV to the President’s Twitter feed. Marantz also sits with the creators of social media as they start to reckon with the forces they’ve unleashed. Will they be able to solve the communication crisis they helped bring about, or are their interventions too little too late?
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From a rising star at , , a deeply immersive chronicle of how the optimistic entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley set out to create a free and democratic internet???and how the cynical propagandists of the alt-right exploited that freedom to propel the extreme into the mainstream.,For several years, Andrew Marantz, a, staff writer, has been embedded in two worlds. The first is the world of social-media entrepreneurs, who, acting out of na??vete and reckless ambition, upended all traditional means of receiving and transmitting information. The second is the world of the people he calls “the gate crashers”???the conspiracists, white supremacists, and nihilist trolls who have become experts at using social media to advance their corrosive agenda. , ranges broadly???from the first mass-printed books to the trending hashtags of the present; from secret gatherings of neo-Fascists to the White House press briefing room???and traces how the unthinkable becomes thinkable, and then how it becomes reality. Combining the keen narrative detail of Bill Buford’s ,and the sweep of George Packer’s ,, , reveals how the boundaries between technology, media, and politics have been erased, resulting in a deeply broken informational landscape???the landscape in which we all now live.,Marantz shows how alienated young people are led down the rabbit hole of online radicalization, and how fringe ideas spread???from anonymous corners of social media to cable TV to the President’s Twitter feed. Marantz also sits with the creators of social media as they start to reckon with the forces they’ve unleashed. Will they be able to solve the communication crisis they helped bring about, or are their interventions too little too late?
