Whatcha Readin'?
cacheman
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Me? These are a few that arrived today that I'll start tonight...the descriptions are canned from Amazon.
The Munich Secession: Art and Artists in Turn-Of-The-Century Munich by Maria Martha Makela
In April 1892 the first art Secession in the German-speaking countries came into being in Munich, Central Europe's undisputed capital of the visual arts. Featuring the work of German painters, sculptors, and designers, as well as that of vanguard artists from around the world, the Munich Secession was a progressive force in the German art world for nearly a decade, its exhibitions regularly attended and praised by Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and other modernists at the outset of their careers. "Those artists who were not included, or who thought themselves inadequately represented in the large official exhibitions held in the major German cities, had economic as well as aesthetic reasons for creating new outlets for their work....
The Visual Arts in Germany, 1890-1937: Utopia and Despair by Shearer West
In this book, Shearer West introduces the visual arts in Germany from the early years of German unification until the beginning of the Second World War. Germany during this period was the site of key movements, including Secessionism, Die Brucke, Der Blaue Reiter, Expressionism, Bauhaus, Dada, and Neue Sachlichkeit. It was a time when artists of the stature of Klimt, Kirchner, Kandinsky, Marc, Macke, Beckmann, Schwitters, Ernst, Kollwitz, Grosz, Hoch, Heartfield, and Dix were all producing their best work.
This book, however, is more than just a survey of artists and movements; it brings a much-needed context to the analysis of not only painting, but sculpture, graphic art, design, and film and photography by relating them to a wider set of cultural and social issues that were specific to German modernism. West concentrates on the ways in which the production and reception of art interacted with-and were affected by-responses to unification, conflict between left and right political factions, gender concerns, contemporary philosophical and religious ideas, the growth of cities, and the increasing importance of mass culture.
German Expressionism: Documents from the End of the Wilhelmine Empire to the Rise of National Socialism (Documents of Twentieth Century Art) by Rose-Carol Washton
German Expressionism, one of the most significant movements of early European modernism, was an enormously powerful element in Germany's cultural life from the end of the Wilhelmine Empire to the Third Reich. While the movement embraced such diverse artists as E. L. Kirchner, Wassily Kandinsky, Kthe Kollwitz, and George Grosz, all the participants shared an almost messianic belief in the power of art to change society. Rose-Carol Washton Long has drawn together over eighty documents crucial to the understanding of German Expressionism, many of them translated for the first time into English.
The Munich Secession: Art and Artists in Turn-Of-The-Century Munich by Maria Martha Makela
In April 1892 the first art Secession in the German-speaking countries came into being in Munich, Central Europe's undisputed capital of the visual arts. Featuring the work of German painters, sculptors, and designers, as well as that of vanguard artists from around the world, the Munich Secession was a progressive force in the German art world for nearly a decade, its exhibitions regularly attended and praised by Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and other modernists at the outset of their careers. "Those artists who were not included, or who thought themselves inadequately represented in the large official exhibitions held in the major German cities, had economic as well as aesthetic reasons for creating new outlets for their work....
The Visual Arts in Germany, 1890-1937: Utopia and Despair by Shearer West
In this book, Shearer West introduces the visual arts in Germany from the early years of German unification until the beginning of the Second World War. Germany during this period was the site of key movements, including Secessionism, Die Brucke, Der Blaue Reiter, Expressionism, Bauhaus, Dada, and Neue Sachlichkeit. It was a time when artists of the stature of Klimt, Kirchner, Kandinsky, Marc, Macke, Beckmann, Schwitters, Ernst, Kollwitz, Grosz, Hoch, Heartfield, and Dix were all producing their best work.
This book, however, is more than just a survey of artists and movements; it brings a much-needed context to the analysis of not only painting, but sculpture, graphic art, design, and film and photography by relating them to a wider set of cultural and social issues that were specific to German modernism. West concentrates on the ways in which the production and reception of art interacted with-and were affected by-responses to unification, conflict between left and right political factions, gender concerns, contemporary philosophical and religious ideas, the growth of cities, and the increasing importance of mass culture.
German Expressionism: Documents from the End of the Wilhelmine Empire to the Rise of National Socialism (Documents of Twentieth Century Art) by Rose-Carol Washton
German Expressionism, one of the most significant movements of early European modernism, was an enormously powerful element in Germany's cultural life from the end of the Wilhelmine Empire to the Third Reich. While the movement embraced such diverse artists as E. L. Kirchner, Wassily Kandinsky, Kthe Kollwitz, and George Grosz, all the participants shared an almost messianic belief in the power of art to change society. Rose-Carol Washton Long has drawn together over eighty documents crucial to the understanding of German Expressionism, many of them translated for the first time into English.
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No, that's not a dumb attempt at humor, it's the title! By Owen Gingerich, it's main pursuit is a census of all known extant first and second editions of Copernicus' De Revolutionibus, the book credited as being the first presentation of the heliocentric model of the universe. But that only serves as the background of the book. It's really not a dry read at all and I'd highly recommend it to anyone remotely interested in European history. It touches on quite a bit aside from the initial topic and no prior knowledge of science, history or astronomy is required.
In chasing down the copies of these books, the author (who conducted the census) discovered all sorts of odd connections through the annotations contemporary owners left in the books. The chase plays out better than an episode of Law & Order (or insert your favorite detective/mystery/thriller here). Aside from dealing with these scientists he gets into the social and political history of the time of Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo (15-1600s). Following the circulation of the Copernicus book leads to an extensive understanding of how knowledge flowed in the age long before the internet. For those interested in rare books, it is an excellent primer on the market. Even if old books don't interest you the stories of thefts, forgeries and "sophistications" will likely hold you in. And to touch on the numismatic, there are several interesting references to prices and values of the time, from the price of scientific books, the cost of travel, and even the matriculation fees at Wittenburg.
A damn good read.
My wantlist & references
100 architects by 10 international critics
The autobiography of a yogi,
by Paramhansa Yogananda
From the Publisher
Autobiography of a Yogi is not an ordinary book. It is a spiritual treasure. To read its message of hope to all truthseekers, is to begin a great adventure. This is a verbatim reprinting of the original, 1946 edition of "Autobiography of a Yogi". Although subsequent printings, reflecting revisions made after the author's death in 1952, have sold over a million copies and have been translated into more than 19 languages, the few thousand of the original have long since disappeared into the hands of collectors. Now, with this reprint, the 1946 edition is again available, with all its inherent power, just as the great master of yoga first presented it.
Kriya Yoga is a simple, psychophysiological method by which the human blood is decarbonized and recharged with oxygen. The atoms of this extra oxygen are transmuted into life current to rejuvenate the brain and spinal centers. By stopping the accumulation of venous blood, the yogi is able to lessen or prevent the decay of tissues; the advanced yogi transmutes his cells into pure energy. Elijah, Jesus, Kabir and other prophets were past masters in the use of Kriya or a similar technique, by which they caused their bodies to dematerialize at will. Kriya is an ancient science. Lahiri Mahasaya received it from his guru, Babaji, who rediscovered and clarified the technique after it had been lost in the Dark Ages.
Krishna also relates that it was he, in a former incarnation, who communicated the indestructible yoga to an ancient illuminato, Vivasvat, who gave it to Manu, the great legislator. He, in turn, instructed Ikshwaku, the father of India's solar warrior dynasty. Passing thus from one to another, the royal yoga was guarded by the rishis until the coming of the materialistic ages. Then, due to priestly secrecy and man's indifference, the sacred knowledge gradually became inaccessible.
Kriya Yoga is mentioned twice by the ancient sage Patanjali, foremost exponent of yoga, who wrote: "Kriya Yoga consists of body discipline, mental control, and meditating on Aum." Patanjali speaks of God as the actual Cosmic Sound of Aum heard in meditation. Aum is the Creative Word, the sound of the Vibratory Motor. Even the yoga-beginner soon inwardly hears the wondrous sound of Aum. Receiving this blissful spiritual encouragement, the devotee becomes assured that he is in actual touch with divine realms. Patanjali refers a second time to the life-control or Kriya technique thus: "Liberation can be accomplished by that pranayama which is attained by disjoining the course of inspiration and expiration."
St. Paul knew Kriya Yoga, or a technique very similar to it, by which he could switch life currents to and from the senses. He was therefore able to say: "Verily, I protest by our rejoicing which I have in Christ, I die daily." By daily withdrawing his bodily life force, he united it by yoga union with the rejoicing (eternal bliss) of the Christ consciousness. In that felicitous state, he was consciously aware of being dead to the delusive sensory world of maya.
In the initial states of God-contact (sabikalpa samadhi) the devotee's consciousness merges with the Cosmic Spirit; his life force is withdrawn from the body, which appears "dead," or motionless and rigid. The yogi is fully aware of his bodily condition of suspended animation. As he progresses to higher spiritual states (nirbikalpa samadhi), however, he communes with God without bodily fixation, and in his ordinary waking consciousness, even in the midst of exacting worldly duties.
Kriya Yoga is an instrument through which human evolution can be quickened," Sri Yukteswar explained to his students. "The ancient yogis discovered that the secret of cosmic consciousness is intimately linked with breath mastery. This is India's unique and deathless contribution to the world's treasury of knowledge. The life force, which is ordinarily absorbed in maintaining the heart-pump, must be freed for higher activities by a method of calming and stilling the ceaseless demands of the breath."
The Kriya Yogi mentally directs his life energy to revolve, upward and downward, around the six spinal centers (medullary, cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal plexuses) which correspond to the twelve astral signs of the zodiac, the symbolic Cosmic Man. One-half minute of revolution of energy around the sensitive spinal cord of man effects subtle progress in his evolution; that half-minute of Kriya equals one year of natural spiritual unfoldment.
The astral system of a human being, with six (twelve by polarity) inner constellations revolving around the sun of the omniscient spiritual eye, is interrelated with the physical sun and the twelve zodiacal signs. All men are thus affected by an inner and an outer universe. The ancient rishis discovered that man's earthly and heavenly environment, in twelve-year cycles, push him forward on his natural path. The scriptures aver that man requires a million years of normal, diseaseless evolution to perfect his human brain sufficiently to express cosmic consciousness.--
I Ching
The book of changes
Way of the peaceful warrior
Dan Millman
Monnaies suisses (price and mintages guide)
Cabinet Numismatique Zinnanti, ed 95
And I still have this 1933 double eagle story somewhere, but it hasn't caught up with me yet,not as well written as I initially thought.
edited to add illustrations and comments
myEbay
DPOTD 3
I'm not far into it yet, but it's definately interesting.
Web: www.tonyharmer.org
09/07/2006
<< <i>This thread, what else would I be readin right now?
<< <i>August Issue of Coin News which arrived the other day. >>
Same here
Coin Books
Coin Accessories
eBay Auctions
DPOTD-3
'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery'
CU #3245 B.N.A. #428
Don
09/07/2006
<< <i>Just finish Harry Potter Year 6. Hey, it's a good read. Not as good as the others but OK. >>
She's not hungry anymore.
On the numismatic front - "A History of the Bank of Montreal" - Geekdom at its finest.
http://www.victoriancent.com
It's okay. I'm currently in a sort of light reading mood, not into any heavy nonfiction at the moment.
I'm amused at how much some of the characters in the novel, who are movers and shakers in the rare book world, resemble numismatic movers and shakers we all know so well. It seems a very similar sort of world, with scholars, specialists, and sleazoids, rivalries, and almost crazed enthusiasm over certain rarities.
<< <i>Just finish Harry Potter Year 6. Hey, it's a good read. Not as good as the others but OK. >>
That's my next stop, as soon as ladymarcovan finishes reading it. I've enjoyed the Harry Potter books. They hearken back to the sort of genre from which my childhood favorites came. (C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, John Bellairs).
PS- speaking of John Bellairs, who wrote books about a child wizard long before Harry Potter was ever dreamed of: there was a book of his ( The Face in the Frost, maybe) that had a numismatic tie-in. Lewis (a sort of pudgy, unpopular kid who gets bullied at school and goes to live with an eccentric wizard uncle, thereby discovering his own magical powers), finds a holed trime (U.S. silver three cent piece) that had been carried during the Civil War on his great-grandfather's watch chain. Bellairs obviously had at least a passing knowledge of numismatics. The books were great. I wonder if J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter's creator) ever read them. I can remember, as a juvenile reader, being quite interested in the mention of the coin in the story.
An older yet interesting view from Homo Erectus thru the fall of the Roman Empire
166 BHDs & 154 Die Varieties & Die States...
Bust Half Nut Club #180
Festivus Yes! Bagels No!
WNC Coins, LLC
1987-C Hendersonville Road
Asheville, NC 28803
wnccoins.com
Unfortunately, the subject of numismatics is barely touched upon. But it does provide a solid understanding of why and how many things came to be in regard to coinage of the time.
The Search For Alexander has Lots of nice Coin Pics in the text.
Numismatic Forgery by Larsen (A very scary book...)
Coin Atlas An AWESOME text for the Darksider.
This one is a Must Own and about $12 at Amazon (Linky)
<< <i>The Search For Alexander has Lots of nice Coin Pics in the text. >>
I've had that one for about ten years now, and take it off the shelf at least once a year. It's great.
<< <i>(The) Coin Atlas An AWESOME text for the Darksider.
This one is a Must Own and about $12 at Amazon. >>
Ditto. My father gave me that in the summer of '94 and it is wonderful. I was even going to post a thread about it.
The latest CCN and National Geographic, also fun.
And lastly some article about climate controls on River-ice hydrology, say what?