545 products in Books, Music, Movies & TV

What distinguishes the truly exceptional from the merely great? After five years of writing The Profile, Polina Marinova Pompliano has studied thousands of the most successful and interesting people in the world and examined how they reason their way through problems, unleash their creativity, and perform under extreme pressure. The highest performers don’t use tricks or hacks to achieve greatness. They use mental frameworks that fundamentally change the way they see the world. They’ve learned how to unlock their hidden genius in order to reach their full potential. This book will help you do the same. After learning from the world’s most successful people featured inside, you will have a mental toolkit to help you tackle thorny problems, navigate relationships, and use creativity and resilience in times of uncertainty.

Note: The font size of the text in the book is 11.5 pt A penetrating examination of how we live and how to live better A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions on how to live. The narrator's relationship with his son leads to a powerful self-reckoning; the craft of motorcycle maintenance leads to an austerely beautiful process for reconciling science, religion, and humanism. Resonant with the confusions of existence, this classic is a touching and transcendent book of life. This new edition contains an interview with Pirsig and letters and documents detailing how this extraordinary book came to be.

Dave Gingery's complete 7 book Build Your Own Metal Working Shop From Scrap series available in hard back for the first time. This collector's edition has been completely updated and includes additional photos (many never before seen). Build Your Own Metal Working Shop From Scrap is a progressive series of seven projects including, The Charcoal Foundry, The Metal Lathe, The Metal Shaper, The Milling Machine, The Drill Press, The Dividing Head and The Sheet Metal Brake. Beginning with a simple charcoal fired foundry, you produce the castings for building the machine tools to equip your shop. Initially the castings are finished by simple hand methods, but it isn’t long before the developing machines are doing much of the work to produce their own parts. It does not take long to learn the simple craft of pattern-making and sand molding. Each phase of the projects increase your knowledge and skill. There is no need to look for outside help. You can do it all in your own shop. No complicated math----No exotic equipment required----No large cash outlay. Lots of work to be sure, and some of it can be downright tedious, but the reward will be a practical small scale machine shop that you might never give yourself permission to buy, assuming you could afford it.

An eccentric classic of Zen poetry When Zen master Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481) was appointed headmaster of the great temple at Kyoto, he lasted nine days before denouncing the rampant hypocrisy he saw among the monks there. He in turn invited them to look for him in the sake parlors of the Pleasure Quarters. A Zen monk-poet-calligrapher-musician, he dared to write about the joys of erotic love, along with more traditional Zen themes. He was an eccentric and genius who dared to defy authority and despised corruption. Although he lived during times plagued by war, famine, rioting, and religious upheaval, his writing and music prevailed, influencing Japanese culture to this day. "Ikkyu scandalized the Zen community of his day and is likely to scandalize some readers even now—his short poems are simultaneously bawdy, abrupt, vulgar, and reverential... It is impossible not to love the velocity and variety of his verse."—The Philadelphia Inquirer "Stephen Berg is exactly the right poet to have translated these poems."—Hayden Carruth, The Hudson Review "A deeply sensual man, Ikkyu had little patience for the fussiness of monastic life and ritual... What is especially appealing about Ikkyu's poetry is the way his sensuality infuses his Zen sensibility."—American Book Review Stephen Berg (1934-2014) was the founder and editor of American Poetry Review. Also available by Stephen Berg Steel Cricket PB $16.00, 1-55659-075-X • CUSA New & Selected Poems PB $12.00, 1-55659-043-1 • CUSA

Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince is one of the most influential works in the history of political thought and the adjective Machiavellian is well-known and perhaps even over-used. So why does the meaning of the text continue to be debated to the present day? And how does a contemporary reader get to grips with a book full of references to the politics of the early 16th Century? The Routledge Guidebook to Machiavelli’s The Prince provides readers with the historical background, textual analysis, and other relevant information needed for a greater understanding and appreciation of this classic text. This guidebook introduces: * the historical, political and intellectual context in which Machiavelli was working * the key ideas developed by Machiavelli throughout the text and the examples he uses to illustrate them * the relationship of The Prince to The Discourses and Machiavelli’s other works Featuring a timeline, maps and suggestions for further reading throughout, this book is an invaluable guide for anyone who wants to be able to engage more fully with The Prince.

The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times is René Guénon's most prophetic work. Having seen his telling analysis of Western culture, The Crisis of the Modern World, swiftly overtaken by events, he based this his final and most profound critique squarely on changeless metaphysical principles. He exposes with his fabled clarity the precise nature of the modern deviation, devoting special attention to the part played by modern philosophy and science (with their accompanying notions of progress and evolution) in the formation of the industrial and democratic society that we now regard as "normal." He sees history as a descent from Form (or Quality) toward Matter (or Quantity). But following after the Reign of Quantity (modern materialism and the "rise of the masses"), Guénon predicts a reign of "inverted quality" just before the end of the age: the triumph of the "counter-initiation" the kingdom of Antichrist. Although Guénon bases his critique on "abstract" principles, his examples are satisfyingly concrete: his remarks on "the degeneration of coinage" could easily be updated to include the transformation of money into electronically-stored digital information; his treatment of "the significance of metallurgy" as regards its occult dangers points directly to our own well-founded fear of such man-made elements as plutonium; and his chapter on the "cracks in the Great Wall" gives solid metaphysical grounding to our twenty-first century demonology, including the UFO phenomenon. This text is considered the magnum opus among Guénon's works of civilizational criticism, as is Symbols of Sacred Science among his studies on symbols and cosmology, and Man and His Becoming according to the Vedanta among his more purely metaphysical works. The Reign of Quantity gives a concise but comprehensive view of the present state of affairs in the world, as it appears from the point of view of the 'ancient wisdom', formerly common both to the East and to the West, but now almost entirely lost sight of. The author indicates with his fabled clarity and directness the precise nature of the modern deviation, and devotes special attention to the development of modern philosophy and science, and to the part played by them, with their accompanying notions of progress and evolution, in the formation of the industrial and democratic society which we now regard as 'normal'. Guénon sees history as a descent from Form (or Quality) toward Matter (or Quantity); but after the Reign of Quantity-modern materialism and the 'rise of the masses'-Guénon predicts a reign of 'inverted quality' just before the end of the age: the triumph of the 'counter-initiation', the kingdom of Antichrist. This text is considered the magnum opus among Guénon's texts of civilizational criticism, as is Symbols of Sacred Science among his studies on symbols and cosmology, and Man and His Becoming according to the Vedanta among his more purely metaphysical works.

Of the books published regarding hyperinflation, this may be the only one that provides effective strategies for operating a business under conditions of a rapidly depreciating currency. "The Hyperinflation Survival Guide: Strategies for American Businesses" was written by Dr. Gerald Swanson (an associate professor of economics at the University of Arizona). Harry E. Figgie, Jr. sponsored the research and production of this book. As it was originally printed in 1989, it was way ahead of its time. However, this doesn't change the fact that this book will prove to be an excellent resource for businessmen and individuals once the Federal Reserve's destruction of the U.S. dollar enters its terminal stage.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A potent exploration of the power of blockchains to reshape the future of the internet—and how that affects us all—from influential technology entrepreneur and startup investor Chris Dixon “A must for anyone who wants to better understand the real potential of blockchains and web3.”—Robert Iger, CEO, Disney “A compelling vision of where the internet should go and how to get there.”—Sam Altman, co-founder, OpenAI The internet of today is a far cry from its early promise of a decentralized, democratic network of innovation, connection, and freedom. In the past decade, it has fallen almost entirely under the control of a very small group of companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook. In Read Write Own, tech visionary Chris Dixon argues that the dream of an open network for fostering creativity and entrepreneurship doesn’t have to die and can, in fact, be saved with blockchain networks. He separates this movement, which aims to provide a solid foundation for everything from social networks to artificial intelligence to virtual worlds, from cryptocurrency speculation—a distinction he calls “the computer vs. the casino.”   With lucid and compelling prose—drawing from a twenty-five-year career in the software industry—Dixon shows how the internet has undergone three distinct eras, bringing us to the critical moment we’re in today. The first was the “read” era, in which early networks democratized information. In the “read-write” era, corporate networks democratized publishing. We are now in the midst of the “read-write-own” era, sometimes called web3, in which blockchain networks are granting power and economic benefits to communities of users, not just corporations.   Read Write Own is a must-read for anyone—internet users, business leaders, creators, entrepreneurs—who wants to understand where we’ve been and where we’re going. It provides a vision for a better internet and a playbook to navigate and build the future.

Some things change life as we know it forever. This is the book that caused a sensation when originally published in Spanish in 2022 (as La Filosofia de Bitcoin) for its novel exploration of why Bitcoin is a creative disruption to civilization comparable to gunpowder, the stirrup, or the internet. Now available in translation for English readers, The Philosophy of Bitcoin explores, from a philosophical point of view, the nature of Bitcoin, its political implications, and its relationship with the State. Based on an analysis of its innovations, the author explains what and why institutions are put in crisis as a result of Bitcoin, and why it is stoking the crucible of disruption like nothing else for a very long time. "Álvaro D. María’s book does an excellent job of breaking down the nuance between money’s relationship with the State. Bitcoin’s emergence will transform the State because the very concept of money has been redefined. In fact, you could say this transformation has already begun with the wave of nation-state Bitcoin adoption currently making its way across the world. D. María deftly navigates this transformation in his book, covering topics such as the emergence of new social contracts and the coming change in both economics and politics." —Samson Mow, JAN3 CEO "This book ignites the critical thinking of all kinds of readers; it is accessible to beginners seeking a gateway to Bitcoin and stimulating for experts reimagining the matter. Álvaro D. María commands the art of explaining complex social and economic processes in simple terms. He can relevantly quote from Greek philosophers, Golden Age poets, Nobel laureates, or even Shrek to welcome each of us, “newbies” and “original gangsters” alike, into this bottom-up grassroot revolution." —Gabriel Kurman, founder of Rootstock; CEO, Koibanx "As we search for reasons to say “yes” to Bitcoin, we often look into the economic sphere, finding motives in the Fiat model or Executive Order 6102. We also look for arguments in the lack of freedoms, censorship, or the prevailing KYC. But what about the reasons of political philosophy, and the reasons that are anchored to the most radical changes that man has experienced and that involve centuries or millennia? The Philosophy of Bitcoinby Álvaro D. María makes you understand where we are and shows you why Bitcoin and cyberspace are the beginning of the crumbling of the state absolutism in which we live. Few books deserve a 10 out of 10." —Lunaticoin "The Philosophy of Bitcoin is a book that had to exist. It is not only because of how D. María managed to synthesize the historical discussion of power and state in 100 pages, but also because, in Spanish, there was a huge philosophical gap in the analysis of Bitcoin. The book is a contribution at all levels: for those who are just starting to learn about Bitcoin, for those who are already users, or for those who have become Bitcoiners. The book is definitely a philosophical revelation about Bitcoin, available to everyone." —Javier Bastardo, author of Satoshi in Venezuela "The Philosophy of Bitcoin provides insightful guidance to explore the deeper implications of Bitcoin beyond its role as a currency. The book recognizes Bitcoin as a transformative breakthrough for humanity, and Álvaro D. María expertly analyzes its impact on the relationship between money and the State. He skillfully navigates this transformation, exploring topics such as the emergence of new social contracts, changes in economics and politics, and the redefinition of property rights. A must read for anyone interested in Bitcoin and Austrian economics." —Prince Philip of Serbia Álvaro D. María holds double degrees in law and philosophy. When he wrote and published this book in Spanish in 2022 it was an instant success. This edition marks the debute of his work in English.

“The landmark book that argued that psychiatry consistently expands its definition of mental illness to impose its authority over moral and cultural conflict.”  — New York Times The 50th anniversary edition of the most influential critique of psychiatry every written, with a new preface on the age of Prozac and Ritalin and the rise of designer drugs, plus two bonus essays. Thomas Szasz's classic book revolutionized thinking about the nature of the psychiatric profession and the moral implications of its practices. By diagnosing unwanted behavior as mental illness, psychiatrists, Szasz argues, absolve individuals of responsibility for their actions and instead blame their alleged illness. He also critiques Freudian psychology as a pseudoscience and warns against the dangerous overreach of psychiatry into all aspects of modern life.

A renowned economist argues for the importance of property rights in "the most intelligent book yet written about the current challenge of establishing capitalism in the developing world" (Economist) "The hour of capitalism's greatest triumph," writes Hernando de Soto, "is, in the eyes of four-fifths of humanity, its hour of crisis." In The Mystery of Capital, the world-famous Peruvian economist takes up one of the most pressing questions the world faces today: Why do some countries succeed at capitalism while others fail? In strong opposition to the popular view that success is determined by cultural differences, de Soto finds that it actually has everything to do with the legal structure of property and property rights. Every developed nation in the world at one time went through the transformation from predominantly extralegal property arrangements, such as squatting on large estates, to a formal, unified legal property system. In the West we've forgotten that creating this system is what allowed people everywhere to leverage property into wealth. This persuasive book revolutionized our understanding of capital and points the way to a major transformation of the world economy.

'it is only the cultivation of individuality which produces, or can produce, well developed human beings' Mill's four essays, 'On Liberty', 'Utilitarianism', 'Considerations on Representative Government', and 'The Subjection of Women' examine the most central issues that face liberal democratic regimes - whether in the nineteenth century or the twenty-first. They have formed the basis for many of the political institutions of the West since the late nineteenth century, tackling as they do the appropriate grounds for protecting individual liberty, the basic principles of ethics, the benefits and the costs of representative institutions, and the central importance of gender equality in society. These essays are central to the liberal tradition, but their interpretation and how we should understand their connection with each other are both contentious. In their introduction Mark Philp and Frederick Rosen set the essays in the context of Mill's other works, and argue that his conviction in the importance of the development of human character in its full diversity provides the core to his liberalism and to any defensible account of the value of liberalism to the modern world. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.