The Sheldonian Theatre. Architecture and Learning in Seventeenth-Century Oxford. Anthony Geraghty

A jewel of the University of Oxford, the Sheldonian Theatre stands out among the groundbreaking designs by the great British architect Sir Christopher Wren. Published to coincide with the 350th anniversary of the building’s construction, this meticulously researched book takes a fresh look at the historical influences that shaped the Sheldonian’s de­velopment, including the Restoration of the English monarchy and the university’s commitment to episcopal religion.

The book explains just how novel Wren’s design was in its day, in part because the academic theater was a building type without precedent in England, and in part because the Sheldonian’s classical style stood apart in its university context. The author also points to a shift in the guiding motivation behind the architecture at Oxford: from a tradition that largely perpetuated medieval forms to one that conceived classic­al architecture in relation to late Renaissance learning. Newly com­missioned photographs showcase the theater’s recently restored in­terior.

Shortlisted for the Alice Davis Hitchcock Award

Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else. Chrystia Freeland

Plutocrats takes a reflective, insightful and well-researched look at the economic disparity that has emerged between the "super rich" — a small number of immensely wealthy people — and the rest of society. Freeland describes how this divide began and what it signifies for each side of the gap. She examines how the convergence of techno­logy and globalization has created the greatest income gap of all time.

"The National Business Book Award consistently reflects the diverse range of topics relevant to the Canadian business community," says Gino Scapillati, National Managing Partner, Markets, PwC. "I'm pleased that the enthusiasm for the award is stronger than ever. It's a tribute to the quality of Canadian business writing and great business authors."

Canada National Business Book Award

Savage Harvest. Carl Hoffman

В 1961 году сын влиятельного политика и банкира, антрополог Майкл Рокфеллер вместе с напарником отправился в экспеди­цию в Новую Гвинею, чтобы добыть экспонаты для отцовского Музея первобытного искусства в Нью-Йорке, где пропал без ве­сти после происшествия на реке. Самой распространенной тео­рией о том, что с ним случилось, была версия, что его съели асматы, племя людоедов, у которых Рокфеллер собирался найти предметы в музейную коллекцию. Хоффман, чтобы написать эту книгу, предпринял нечеловеческие усилия, изучив язык асматов, дважды съездив в экспедицию на место инцидента и взяв десят­ки интервью у аборигенов. У него получился прекрасный репор­таж, по итогам которого он выдвигает свою версию, вполне прав­доподобную и соответствующую рассказам нескольких абориге­нов, доживших до нашего времени.

Удовольствие от Х. Стивен Строгац

Идея познакомить профанов «с самыми сложными и передовыми идеями из мира математики» кажется пугающей — однако, надо признать, автор справляется. Книга состоит из «виньеток», по три-четыре странички, с характерными, в ньюйоркерском (впро­чем, сначала эти заметки печатались в «Нью-Йорк таймс») стиле, иллюстрациями — где на примерах из повседневной жизни и массовой культуры объясняются разные математические законы, парадоксы и курьезы. С помощью математики можно установить, убивал ли Джей Симпсон свою жену; с помощью примеров, под­резанных у Строгаца, можно объяснять математику своим детям. Гуманитарию лучше не рассчитывать на эффект «теперь все по­нятно», но в любом случае увлекательно.

Наука по-американски: Очерки истории

Книга представляет собой сборник переводов избранных статей по истории американской науки и охватывает разные аспекты ор­ганизации науки и научного образования в США. Статьи сгруппи­рованы по четырем темам: проблема становления американской системы подготовки научных кадров; история возникновения научных фондов и их влияния на науку; взаимосвязь государ­ственного и частного финансирования научных исследований; взаимоотношений вузов, науки, промышленности и военной ма­шины США. Книга предназначена широкой аудитории историков и социологов, менеджеров науки, администраторов, экспертов по научной политике, а также всем, кто интересуется историей орга­низации науки.

Новое литературное обозрение, ISBN 978-5-4448-0128-4

Начало бесконечности. Дэвид Дойч

David Deutsch's “Beginning of Infinity” is a brilliant and exhilarating and profoundly eccentric book. NYT

Предельно выверенная философия науки от последователя Кар­ла Поперра и физика с мировым именем Дэвида Дойча. По сути, инструкция для универсального освоения мира путем создания «убедительных объяснений». Чтобы показать состоятельность своего подхода, автор убедительно препарирует феномены и идеи разной степени предсказуемости: бесконечность, постструк­турализм, художественное восприятие, демократические выбо­ры, эстетическая красота и многое другое. LAM

Китайское исследование. Колин Кэмпбелл

В основе книги лежит самое масштабное в истории науки иссле­дование связи между пищевыми привычками и хроническими бо­лезнями

Автор книги — крупнейший мировой специалист по биохимии — сделал ряд открытий, которые изменили взгляды на питание миллионов людей. Оказывается, продукты, которыми мы стара­тельно кормим своих детей, считая их полезными, приводят к возникновению главных болезней-убийц: рака, сахарного диабе­та и сердечно-сосудистых заболеваний.
«Китайское исследование» возникло после изучения статистиче­ских данных о смертности в 65 округах Китая, которые были со­браны по инициативе премьера-министра Чжоу Эньлая, умирав­шего от рака. В ходе этого исследования было определено более 8000 значимых взаимосвязей между питанием и болезнями.

Диктаторы пишут. Литературное творчество авторитарных правителей XX века. Сборник статей

Сборник литературоведческих и культурологических статей по­священ литературному наследию деспотических правителей XX века - от Муссолини до Хусейна - и, шире, вопросу о том, каковы взаимоотношения людей, обретших неограниченную власть, с ху­дожественным творчеством. В качестве преамбулы в книге поме­щено также исследование артистической деятельности римского императора Нерона. Статьи написаны в том числе такими видны­ми современными мыслителями, как Славой Жижек и Боян Ман­чев.

Мир, полный демонов: Наука — как свеча во тьме. Карл Саган

Это последняя книга Карла Сагана, астронома, астрофизика и выдающегося популяризатора науки, вышедшая уже после его смерти. Эта книга, посвященная одной из его любимых тем — че­ловеческому разуму и борьбе с псевдонаучной глупостью, — свое­го рода итог всей его работы. Мифы об Атлантиде и Лему­рии, лица на Марсе и встречи с инопланетянами, магия и реин­карнация, ясновидение и снежный человек, креационизм и астро­логия — Саган последовательно и беспощадно разоблачает мифы, созданные невежеством, страхом и корыстью.

Sagan presents a set of tools for skeptical thinking which he calls the "baloney detection kit". Skeptical thinking consists both of constructing a reasoned argument and recognizing a fallacious or fraudulent one. In order to identify a fallacious argument, Sagan suggests the employment of such tools as independent confirmation of facts, quantification, and the use of Occam's razor. Sagan's "baloney detection kit" also provides tools for detecting "the most common fallacies of logic and rhetoric", such as argument from authority and statistics of small numbers. Through these tools, Sagan argues the benefits of a critical mind and the self-correcting nature of science can take place.

Sagan provides a skeptical analysis of several examples of what he refers to as superstition, fraud, and pseudoscience such as witches, UFOs, ESP, and faith healing.

No Virtue Like Necessity. Realist Thought in International Relations since Machiavelli. Jonathan Haslam

This wide-ranging book is the first comprehensive history of the development of realist ideas in international relations throughout the last five hundred years. Jonathan Haslam focuses on the emergence and relevance of realist (or statist) thought, showing how it has shaped political thinking and international events since Machiavelli’s time. Haslam draws on an array of original texts in various European languages to illustrate the views of rulers and thinkers, to reveal how wars and other crises affected the thinking of those who experienced them, and to locate realist thinking squarely within the history of political and economic thought.
The author explores four themes relating to modern era international relations: reasons of state, the balance of power, the balance of trade, and geopolitics. He contrasts realist ideas with universalist alternatives, both religious and secular, which were based on a more optimistic view of the nature of man or the nature of society. Realist thought never attained consistent predominance, Haslam demonstrates, and the struggle with universalist thought has remained an unresolved tension that can be traced throughout the evolution of international relations theory in the twentieth century.

Longlisted for the 2003 British Academy book prizeJonathan Haslam is reader in the history of international relations at Cambridge University, and fellow and director of studies in history at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

The New Rijksmuseum. Dir: Oeke Hoogendijk

If you've visited Amsterdam, you've probably been to the Rijksmuseum, one of the world's preeminent art museums - home to masterpieces by Rembrandt and Vermeer - itself a vast, magnificent structure, built in 1895 by architect Pierre Cuypers. The renovation of the museum (it reopened this past April) went on for 10 long, expensive years, so it is fitting that a documentary on this torturous (and often, inadvertently hilarious) process should turn into not one but two feature-length movies: Spanish architects Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz have designed an ingenious new entryway, but the Dutch Cyclists Union won't tolerate reduced access for the 13,000 bicyclists who ride through the passageway daily. The museum's magisterial director, Ronald de Leeuw, and his successor, the younger, scrappier Wim Pijbes, battle with curators, politicians, designers, city bureaucrats, and the public as the price of construction soars to $500 million. It's a messy, complicated story that New Yorkers will relate to, but fortunately, one with a glorious ending.

Beeld en Geluid Awards
Montreal International Festival of Films on Art

Ekspeditionen til verdens ende. Daniel Dencik

A grand and adventurous journey of discovery to the last white areas of the world map. But no matter how far we go and how hard we try to find answers, we ultimately meet ourselves and our own transience.
A real adventure film – for the 21st century. On a three-mast schooner packed with artists, scientists and ambitions worthy of Noah or Columbus, we set off for the end of the world: the rapidly melting massifs of northeast Greenland. An epic journey where the brave sailors on board encounter polar bear nightmares, Stone Age playgrounds and entirely new species. But in their encounter with new, unknown parts of the world, the crew of scientists and artists also confronted the existential questions of life. Curiosity, grand pathos and a liberating dose of humour come together in a superbly orchestrated film where one iconic image after another seduces us far beyond the historical footnote that is humanity. A film conceived and brought to life on a grand scale – a long forgotten childhood dream lived out by grown artists and scientists.

Reykjavik International Film Festival 2013 Award; Camden International Film Festival Award; International Documentary Film Festival Docville Award; Trento Film Festival Award; RIDM Montreal International Documentary Award

Dirty Wars. Richard Rowley

"Dirty Wars" follows investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, author of the international bestseller Blackwater, into the heart of America’s covert wars, from Afghanistan to Yemen, Somalia and beyond.
Dirty Wars follows investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, author of the international bestseller Blackwater, into the heart of America’s covert wars, from Afghanistan to Yemen, Somalia and beyond. Part political thriller and part detective story, this is a gripping journey into one of the most important and underreported stories of our time. What begins as a report into a U.S. night raid gone terribly wrong in a remote corner of Afghanistan quickly turns into a global investigation of the secretive and powerful Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). As Scahill digs deeper into the activities of JSOC, he is pulled into a world of covert operations unknown to the public and carried out across the globe by men who do not exist on paper and will never appear before Congress

Oscar Nomination; Sundance Film Festival Award; CPH:DOX 2013 Award; Warsaw International Film Festival Award; Telluride Mountain Film Festival Award; Little Rock Film Festival  Award; Golden Rock Documentary Award;  Boston Independent Film Festival Grand Jury Prize

PIPELINE. Vitaly Mansky

A film about modern Europe, about two of its edges, or to put it more precisely – two of its extremes.
Pipeline is a film about modern Europe, about two of its edges, or to put it more precisely – two of its extremes. This is a film about Europe, which spans from the barren land of eternal winters of Siberia to the complaisant Bay of Biscay, where even the laws of nature form fundamentally different paradigms of human existence. What can possibly connect such ostensibly different lives? Tangibly, it does so through the pipeline 'Western Siberia –Western Europe'. The pipeline has, however, not only connected but also inextricably verged 'this' Russia with 'that' Europe.

MDR Film Award; Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Award; Open Russian Film Festival Award; White Elephant Award; DocPoint Helsinki Documentary Film Festival Award

JANAPAR. James Newton

Twenty-three-year-old Englishman Tom Allen is all set for a successful career, but he finds himself persisted by the question of our time: isn’t there more to life than this? Leaving it all behind, Tom sets off on the ultimate quest for freedom. For the next 12,000 miles, with neither maps nor guidebooks, Tom films the unfolding of his dream as he cycles and camps his way across three continents. But the journey takes an unlikely detour when he falls in love with an Iranian-Armenian girl. But when things do not go to the plan, Tom is forced to continue riding alone. His decisions lead him to the depths of the Sahara desert, where he catches a glimpse of the answer he set out to find. Filmed over four years with cinematic ambition, Janapar – named after the Armenian word for journey – is an honest and life-affirming tale of finding what you are looking for when you least expect it.

Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G major

Miah Persson (soprano)
Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer
Conductor Iván Fischer, co-founder and Music Director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, has been responsible for creating a vibrant orchestra with an enviable international touring profile which appears at all the major venues and festivals of the world.

As a guest conductor Fischer works with the finest symphony orchestras of the world. He has been invited to the Berlin Philharmonic more than ten times, every year he leads two weeks of programs with the Royal Concert-Gebouw Orchestra. Besides his contract with the NSO of Washington, he works regularly with leading US symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra.

RPS Music Award. Iván Fischer - Award for Conductor
Gramophone Awards Finalist
BBC Music Magazine Awards  Finalist

Channel Iván Fischer Mahler Symphonies – CCSSA26109 (SACD)

Miloš: Aranjuez

For his third album on Mercury Classics/Deutsche Grammophon, international chart-topping classical guitarist Miloš Karadaglić takes the world-famous Concierto de Aranjuez as the starting point for a journey across the Spanish landscape, paying tribute to the great composers and musicians who placed the modern classical guitar firmly on the international stage.

Miloš sees the work as “the holy grail of the guitar repertoire and an endless source of inspiration. The first and last movements sparkle with energy and rhythm. They paint the landscape of nature, happiness and love. The legendary second movement takes us to a different reality, where emotions overflow and a string becomes a voice.”

For the recording of the new album Aranjuez, Miloš was joined by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios in London. Miloš recalls that “Yannick’s energy is infectious and our collaboration was the most electric experience. When we met before the recording sessions to run through the music together, he taught me things I shall always be grateful for. For example, he asked me to rethink my approach to Rodrigo’s notorious scale passages. He suggested that, instead of focusing on each note, I should think of them as gestures – taking each one in a different direction as if they were brushstrokes. At that moment I relaxed completely; I had found the final piece of a puzzle, a piece I had been looking for all along.”

“The young guitarist comes across as an interpreter of delicacy and meticulousness.” Financial Times
Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice

Borodin: Symphonies Nos. 1-3 & In the Steppes of Central Asia

Borodin: Symphonies Nos. 1-3 (complete)
Symphony Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre, Mark Ermler
In the Steppes of Central Asia
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Loris Tjeknavorian
It seems strange that such a celebrated composer as Alexander Borodin actually spent much of his life as a distinguished research chemist. While working as a professor in Chemistry at the University of St Petersburg in 1862, Borodin met pivotal composer Mily Balakirev, who encouraged him to explore the musical world, and began to tutor him in harmony and counterpoint. The rest, as they say, is history. The First Symphony is notable for the rhythmic interest of the first movement and the lively second movement, which shows the influence of Mendelssohn, with the third movement full of heartfelt romanticism– a fitting contrast to the resplendent final movement.

The work is followed by In the Steppes of Central Asia, a symphonic poem dedicated to Franz Liszt and in which Russian and Asiatic folk‐tunes are combined with other techniques to create a utopian image of the Russian landscape. Then comes the iconic Symphony No.2, regarded by many as the pinnacle of Borodin’s symphonic achievement. Completing the line‐up is the Symphony No.3 in A minor – a work that remained unfinished at the time of Borodin’s death but was later completed by the young prodigy Alexander Glazunov, who perfectly captured the older composer’s style.

Brilliant Classics - 94453

The Sacred Spirit of Russia

Glen Miller (basso profundo)
Conspirare, Craig Hella Johnson

To understand and partake of the 'Sacred Spirit of Russia' requires one, first and foremost, to experience the beauty and splendour of the Russian Orthodox liturgy, which has been an integral part of the Eastern Slav identity for over 1000 years.

The sacred music of the New Russian Choral School features sublime settings of the liturgy that draw on a rich history of Orthodox chants and native traditions, creating music of unprecedented colour and textural richness. Following the lead of Tchaikovsky, composers such as Kastalsky, Gretchaninov, Chesnokov, Rachmaninov and a host of others have left us a treasure-trove of musical delights.

Craig Hella Johnson and the 35-strong Conspirare (featuring the astounding basso profundo Glenn Miller) present a glorious sampling of some of the finest works in this genre including Martynov's mesmerising 'Beatitudes' for three sopranos and choir and Kedrov's setting of the Lord's Prayer. Conspirare's esteemed language coach is the editor of Musica Russica, Vladimir Morosan who has also written the booklet notes. The only 'inauthentic' part of this SACD recording for hm USA is the spot-on intonation.

“Conspirare’s reading of these pieces is passionate without being perfumed. A lovely recording, in immaculate sound.” Choir & Organ

Harmonia Mundi - HMU807526