Accessing the unfamiliar.
927308
Arthur Golden opens the door to the sophisticated yet elusive underworld that is the life of the geisha.  The novel is written with eloquence that following the progression of the life of the main character, Sayuri, was a thrill in itself.  Sayuri perceives the world and describes her feelings and reactions to people and events around her as if she was possessed by the spirits of the natural world.  There are many allusions and references to events in the realm of nature that many of us may imagine but in reality are barely perceptible.  Thanks to her physical attributes that met the stringent requirements for an apprentice in the competitive geisha society of pre-war Kyoto, she was literally uprooted from her family and forced to live by Gion's rules, or else...  One can only wonder what emotional pain lingers in the hearts and minds of many of these women who have taken this path not by choice, despite the image they project of a highly sophisticated and cultured entertainer, almost symbolic of the pinnacle of Japan's cultural evolution over the centuries.
2858672
Mr. Merrick's book is a somewhat challenging read in places in that you are asked to delve into advanced mathematics and complex geometry as well as the fine arts, and history, but that's precisely the point. Merrick guides us on a magical mystery tour to the place and time where the arts and sciences were cut asunder from one another and the truth of what we are, what we resonate with and why was kept from all of us by forces within the church.

Part Dan Brown, part mad genius, part spiritual philosopher; Merrick's thinking is truly blazing a trail where there was none.  If this book (or a version of it) does not become a textbook for the way we begin an arts and sciences education at universities, it will only be because of the limited publishing and exposure it has received so far. I could see where one day people will point at this book and say that the way in which we see our world around us, as a harmonic lattice, started in large part right here.

Unfortunately I am unsure of where you can buy the book at this time.  Perhaps by contacting the author or his agent?
4448797
A provocative and thoughtful essay on how to look at material things.
697336
It's been some years since I read the first edition of this remarkable work. The book starts with a strange adventure I don't want to disclose to coming readers, but it surely is an invitation to embarge on a strange and  interesting journey through history and underground tunnels. If you're in  for suggestions of other civilisations in the past and the here-and-now,  living in underground bases and tunnel-systems, eagerly waiting to visit  the sunlitten surface again, then this is the book for you. Although  MacLellan describe the various tales rather superficially, it surely can be  a first invitation to research further into persons like Nicholas Roerich,  Bullwer-Lytton, Ossendowski and other adventurers. It surely was an  invitation for me...!
3758800
Steps Unequal, showcases a willingness by the author to delve into difficult subject matter, displaying a great ability to immerse the reader into a variety of locales and emotions. An enjoyable and accessible read. Highly recommended.
4847944
This guide to the hidden history of familiar places in New York is a glimpse into the forgotten stories of sites one passes every day.  More than a guide to specific "tunnels, ruins and rooftops," it proposes that we open our eyes and look around for the record of the generations who have preceded is in our neighborhoods. A captivating approach to a new urban archeology.
2475977
Learned some things but is not easy to read sometimes
637746
Can you imagine what it is like to have no language at all? I don't think those of us who grew up with language can begin to imagine not having it.

Nor does Susan Schaller pretend to be able to. But she gives us an absorbing story of her work with Idelfonso, who at age 28 had never had language but on a level he perhaps did not consciously understand, yearned for it. Mixed with this are her observations about a world rarely explored.

And there are more Idelfonso's in the world than one might expect. I work at a literacy project in Laos, where deaf children in remote villages may never be diagnosed as deaf, but merely as unable to learn. Ms. Schaller's book makes clear the urgency of reaching such chldren while they are young. But she also shows that where that doesn't happen, adults too can learn language. It's rare to find a book that is at once so ground-breaking, and so readable.
2972572
Some very interesting concepts are explored in this book: squatter capital, cultural centrality, emotional sovereignity,  authority making , the role of gossip. Kadir puts into words attitudes that are often in plain sight but hard to interpret and put in context. The fact that the writer has spent a long time immersed into the subject  of her research provides a sincere approach. The way of writing is captivating. Kadirs critisism is sharp but never bitter. It is interesting to notice that Kadir's observations throughout the book apply also in situations outside the context of Amsterdam's squats and anarchist studies. They provide an insight to gender issues and inter-community politics. Power struggles, hierarchies and gender stereotypes appear to manifest themselves whenever humans attempt to organise and interact with each other.
931301
Good book even if you do not know the area, but if you do you will enjoy it even more.
635505
This book is more than a travelogue. It heightens awareness of different ways of being and demonstrates innovative response to surprising emergences. For those of us that don't go overseas much, it helps give an added perspective to our own unexamined traditions. It's humorous, too. But this book!
3977629
Not just an unusually thoughtful collection of places you'll want to eat, shop, and play.  IDEO's keen observations and photos spark curiosity about how our improvisations and adaptations shape public space.  A hip crash course in the cultural anthropology of modern NY.
450441
The interesting thing about "reading" a book like Living SMALL is that the book presents the reader with a multimedia three-dimensional experience.  As such, the book invites the reader to participate and really experience small spaces.

First to study the detailed illustrations and see the architectural relationships on a printed page and read the captions and footnotes as they are directly related to the images.  Then to use the books CD to view animations and listen to commentary about objects and spatial relationships that cannot be explained on a two-dimensional page.

And finally to use the SketchUp modeling program to walk through the spaces, place people and furniture, add rooms and experience each of the 16 little buildings.  The two dimensional drawings and three dimensional models for each of these buildings are even included on the CD.

Important is that this book is not a simple straight read.  "Readers" must be prepared for a full interactive three-dimensional experience to truly understand what it means to begin Living SMALL.  This book invites hands-on user participation as part of a learning experience -- perhaps redefining what a book can be for all of us in the future.
511625
This is a book that reveals about being a woman. Its complexity goes further than its writing style.
3877306
Mansfield's rumination on how New England remembers it's past considers how ancestors is chosen, who is included in a communities remembrance, and what becomes absent in our landscapes and consciousness. The author uses the metaphor of what he calls "Memory Houses," structures to hold emotive collections and the stories they can tell, as a narrative thread in his analysis of New England culture. The objects collected has emotional resonance for the collector, and the meanings and resonances change or are forgotten. This book wasn't quite what I had expected, but was both interesting, enjoyable, and an unsentimental examination of cultural memory.
3197248
Like Werner Hertzog's Lessons of Darkness, Invisible sets out to push at our understandings of art and political commentary by refusing to fall comfortably into either category.  Paglen makes use of telescopic photography to produce images of restricted governmental spaces; that the formalist beauty many of these images contain is irrelevant to the content they reach across space to uncover would seem to be the point.  Those looking for hard data and fist-thumping theatrical protest will be disappointed, as will those in search of a traditional exemplar of the photographic aesthetic.  But for those interested in suggestive gazes into the shadow government, and the aesthetics of technology pushed to its limits, this is a book well worth exploring and mulling over. The first step into penetrating the covert machinations of power is to learn new ways to see the apparent world around us; Invisible marks a brave step towards this knowing vision.
2916503
"Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden."
Phaedrus (Roman fabulist, 15-50 B.C., the first writer to Latinize entire books of fables, retelling in iambic meter the Greek prose tales of Aesop.)

The overt may hold keys to much of what has been programmed for our consumption, and hints to the covert exist right under our noses. The general public ignores items hidden in plain sight, routinely.

Clichs all, yes, and this makes my point through the metaphor for how overused ideas and elements of communication eventually lose their effect. The numbing of the brain allows much to occur, nevertheless. All of what I have said above sounds like clichs, and hearing any of this should not surprise you. We have been conditioned, psychologically and intellectually, nevertheless, to understand much of the twilight language that is given to us in large doses daily, and then encouraged to move on mundanely in our work, play, and leisure lives, without being emotionally stirred.  But an examination of what lies beneath the surfaces reveals through many techniques, such as the further explorations in onomatology (the study of names) and toponomy (the study of places), to note two of several areas that need to be mined and are utilized in this work.

America does not know much about the hidden landscape in which we live everyday. Buildings are built, cornerstones are laid, stadiums are constructed, ritualistic measurements are secured, and tomorrow comes. Streets are named, events are planned, and another new organization establishes itself in town. Most people are in a fog to such an extent that they hardly notice any of what is happening.

This book is clearly the first comprehensive American treatment of the examination of the secrets subtly stored away for those who are on the inside and those looking in from the outside.

Don't you think it is time to wake up? Aren't you curious about how and why certain things transpire in the way they have and do?

This book is written to upset you, filled with specific examples you will not be able to ignore.