A new book argues the 1970’s was a moment when TV, movies, and music all shifted into a new gear, changing the cultural landscape in ways that continue to today. Jeffrey Brown has a conversation with author Ron Brownstein about his book “Rock Me on the Water: 1974-The Year Los Angeles Transformed Movies, Music, Television, and Politics.” This segment is part of our arts and culture series, CANVAS.
Tag Archives: Book Reviews
Global Health Essays: ‘The Politics Of Stopping Pandemics’ (New Yorker)
He identifies a cluster of non-medical drivers of deadly outbreaks—war, political instability, human migration, poverty, urbanization, anti-science and nationalist sentiment, and climate change—and maintains that advances in biomedicine must be accompanied by concerted action on these geopolitical matters.
War and Pestilence ride together as two of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and there is no shortage of historical precedent to demonstrate the aptness of the allegory. The great influenza pandemic that began in 1918 was propelled, in part, by troop movements and population shifts at the end of the First World War. Both the First and the Second World Wars produced typhus epidemics. Armed conflicts cause malnutrition, poor pest control, and sanitation problems; even the soil often becomes contaminated. Medical facilities are destroyed; doctors and nurses, diverted to combat duty, are unable to provide care, and vaccination and other mass-treatment programs usually falter.
Reviews: ‘Nomadland’ – Jessica Bruder Book Now An Award-Winning Movie
The latest selection for our “Now Read This” book club, Jessica Bruder’s “Nomadland,” documents a growing phenomenon in the country — a “wandering tribe” of seasonal workers. It has inspired a new movie of the same name. The film was the big winner at the British Academy Film Awards, and has multiple Oscar nominations. Jeffrey Brown has the latest for our ongoing arts and culture series, CANVAS.
Interview: Writer Paul Theroux – ‘Under The Wave At Waimea’ (Podcast)
What can a travel writer learn from staying at home? Anne McElvoy asks the prolific travel author Paul Theroux about the virtues of being homebound during the pandemic.
The author of “Under the Wave at Waimea” reveals that his friend and one-time foe V.S. Naipaul inspired a character in his new book about big-wave surfing in Hawaii. Also, verbal fencing with his sons Louis and Marcel and his ultimate travel destination.
Books: Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-Science (Peter Hotez)
Books: ‘The Notebooks And Drawings Of Louis I. Kahn’ To Be Republished
Originally published in 1962 and out of print for almost 50 years, The Notebooks and Drawings of Louis I. Kahn was the first book on influential 20th-century American architect Louis Kahn to feature his own images and words— and the first to capture the modern master’s powerful and unique spirit.
Books: ‘Pre-Fab Living’ – A “Golden Age Of Housing”
From net-zero houses to plug-and-play dwellings and converted shipping containers, each chapter explores the varied and exciting ways that architects and designers are using pre-fabricated technology to address today’s living and world challenges.
This survey of the world’s most innovative and successful examples of pre-fabricated homes explores the full range of possibilities, open to anyone seeking to find clever and up-to-date solutions for building their own home.
A reference section includes in-depth essays, which explore the latest manufacturing methods, trends and technologies, presenting a wide range of possibilities to suit every need, taste and desire.
Richly illustrated with photography and drawings, with projects selected by a long-time expert in pre-fab architecture, this fresh take on new solutions presents the factory-made house in a new light. Whether designing on a tight budget, crafting something self-sustaining or simply looking for new spatial ideas, this is an essential and future source of inspiration for architects, designers and home-builders.
Lifestyle: ‘The Monocle Book Of Gentle Living’
The Monocle Book of Gentle Living is a handbook to help you think about how to reconnect, make good things happen, to do something you care about and discover nice places and extraordinary people along the way.
Sometimes the fixes are simple and personal: to run, dive into a lake, sleep more or set aside some time with the people who make us happy. Maybe it’s about eating food from producers who are proud of its provenance or building spaces into cities that respect older residents and value younger ones. Our editors have brought all this together in one simple book – so how about taking a few moments away from the crush to flick through the pages? Gently does it, now.
Best New Pet Books: “Good Dog – A Collection Of Portraits” (Rizzoli Video)
Whether a rescue or a show dog, a pedigree or a mutt, you can’t help falling in love with Randal Ford’s dog portraits, as each evokes the unparalleled bond we feel for our greatest companions.
“Good Dog” captures the warmth, humor, and unconditional love that is at the heart of every dog. From mutts beaming with charisma and charm to show dogs exuding grace and elegance, Ford’s 150 dog portraits bring out the dog lover in all of us.
This warm, tender, playful, and heartfelt collection of dog portraits gives us a beautiful look into the lives of our most cherished companions. About The Author: Randal Ford’s works have appeared on the cover of Time magazine, twenty different Texas Monthly covers, and the cover of Communication Arts, the advertising industry’s most prestigious publication. His works have been commissioned and collected across the globe.
Few photographers in the world have photographed as many animals in studio as Ford. His first book, The Animal Kingdom (Rizzoli), was named an Amazon.com Best Photography Book of 2018.
Publish Date: October 6, 2020
Publisher: Rizzoli
Books: “The Clock Mirage – Our Myth Of Measured Time” By Joseph Mazur
With a narrative punctuated by personal stories of time’s effects on truck drivers, Olympic racers, prisoners, and clockmakers, Mazur’s journey is filled with fascinating insights into how our technologies, our bodies, and our attitudes can change our perceptions. Ultimately, time reveals itself as something that rides on the rhythms of our minds. The Clock Mirage presents an innovative perspective that will force us to rethink our relationship with time, and how best to use it.
A tour of clocks throughout the centuries—from the sandglass to the telomere—to reveal the physical, biological, and social nature of time.
What is time? This question has fascinated philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists for thousands of years. Why does time seem to speed up with age? What is its connection with memory, anticipation, and sleep cycles?
Award‑winning author and mathematician Joseph Mazur provides an engaging exploration of how the understanding of time has evolved throughout human history and offers a compelling new vision, submitting that time lives within us. Our cells, he notes, have a temporal awareness, guided by environmental cues in sync with patterns of social interaction. Readers learn that, as a consequence of time’s personal nature, a forty‑eight‑hour journey on the space shuttle can feel shorter than a six‑hour trip on the Soyuz capsule, that the Amondawa of the Amazon do not have ages, and that time speeds up with fever and slows down when we feel in danger.
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