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Author: John Spurling
Publisher: Prelude Books
ISBN: 0715653636
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 242
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Book Description
Beneath the floorboards of a ruined house, an 18th-century memoir is discovered. It reveals the life story of William Congreve, the acclaimed English playwright. The lost manuscript is penned by his faithful servant, Jeremy, who tells how they lived together through fierce political division and triumphal nationalism in that era of war with France, the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution. Upon his death a monument in Stowe is erected to honour Mr Congreve. Atop a slender pyramid sits a monkey peering into a mirror, a court wit seeing reflected the ironies of polite society folding in on itself as Whigs and Tories feud with scant ground for compromise. Through the prisms of memory and art, award-winning author John Spurling reimagines this tumultuous period and brings to life historical figures Dryden, Vanbrugh, Swift, Pope and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu as never before.
Author: John Spurling
Publisher: Prelude Books
ISBN: 0715653636
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 242
Get Book Here
Book Description
Beneath the floorboards of a ruined house, an 18th-century memoir is discovered. It reveals the life story of William Congreve, the acclaimed English playwright. The lost manuscript is penned by his faithful servant, Jeremy, who tells how they lived together through fierce political division and triumphal nationalism in that era of war with France, the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution. Upon his death a monument in Stowe is erected to honour Mr Congreve. Atop a slender pyramid sits a monkey peering into a mirror, a court wit seeing reflected the ironies of polite society folding in on itself as Whigs and Tories feud with scant ground for compromise. Through the prisms of memory and art, award-winning author John Spurling reimagines this tumultuous period and brings to life historical figures Dryden, Vanbrugh, Swift, Pope and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu as never before.
Author: Gregory Hickok
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393244164
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 251
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Book Description
An essential reconsideration of one of the most far-reaching theories in modern neuroscience and psychology. In 1992, a group of neuroscientists from Parma, Italy, reported a new class of brain cells discovered in the motor cortex of the macaque monkey. These cells, later dubbed mirror neurons, responded equally well during the monkey’s own motor actions, such as grabbing an object, and while the monkey watched someone else perform similar motor actions. Researchers speculated that the neurons allowed the monkey to understand others by simulating their actions in its own brain. Mirror neurons soon jumped species and took human neuroscience and psychology by storm. In the late 1990s theorists showed how the cells provided an elegantly simple new way to explain the evolution of language, the development of human empathy, and the neural foundation of autism. In the years that followed, a stream of scientific studies implicated mirror neurons in everything from schizophrenia and drug abuse to sexual orientation and contagious yawning. In The Myth of Mirror Neurons, neuroscientist Gregory Hickok reexamines the mirror neuron story and finds that it is built on a tenuous foundation—a pair of codependent assumptions about mirror neuron activity and human understanding. Drawing on a broad range of observations from work on animal behavior, modern neuroimaging, neurological disorders, and more, Hickok argues that the foundational assumptions fall flat in light of the facts. He then explores alternative explanations of mirror neuron function while illuminating crucial questions about human cognition and brain function: Why do humans imitate so prodigiously? How different are the left and right hemispheres of the brain? Why do we have two visual systems? Do we need to be able to talk to understand speech? What’s going wrong in autism? Can humans read minds? The Myth of Mirror Neurons not only delivers an instructive tale about the course of scientific progress—from discovery to theory to revision—but also provides deep insights into the organization and function of the human brain and the nature of communication and cognition.
Author: Nersel Zur Muehlen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780982922422
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 56
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Book Description
Monkey Forest is a happy place, until monkey Merlin stumbles upon a magic mirror that gives him vast power over the other monkeys. He seizes the opportunity and reigns as the vicious King Merlin, until one day a curious little monkey named Koko discovers his secret... This imaginative picture book, written by Nersel zur Muehlen (Little Green Bird, Imaginary Toys) is beautifully illustrated by Sara Sanchez and illustrates the dark side of unjustified power and the power of curiosity.
Author: Ian Tattersall
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0544986954
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 181
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Book Description
An “absorbing” look at how our species evolved, from the curator of human evolution at the American Museum of Natural History (Kirkus Reviews). What makes us so different from those other animals? How did we get this way? How do we know? And what exactly are we? These questions are what make human evolution a subject of general fascination. Ian Tattersall, one of those rare scientists who is also a graceful writer, addresses them in this delightful book. Tattersall leads the reader around the world and into the far reaches of the past, showing what the science of human evolution is up against—from the sparsity of evidence to the pressures of religious fundamentalism. Looking with dispassion and humor at our origins, Tattersall offers a wholly new definition of what it is to be human. “Unparalleled insight.” —Donald C. Johanson, author of Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind
Author: Ian Tattersall
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 9780198515692
Category : Evolution
Languages : en
Pages : 203
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Book Description
The fundamental questions of our origins, along with our evolutionary future, find new life in this extraordinary book. In this superb collection of essays, eminent scientist, Ian Tattersall takes up some of the most controversial questions in evolutionary history. He argues that far from being finely engineered organisms, we are in fact improvised beings, owing as much to chance as adaptation. Tattersall leads us around the world and into the far reaches of the past, and reveals the complexities of the science of human evolution.
Author: Anna Abney
Publisher: Prelude Books
ISBN: 0715654365
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 299
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Book Description
1665. It is five years since King Charles II returned from exile, the scars of the English Civil Wars are yet to heal and now the Great Plague engulfs the land. Alethea Hawthorne is safe inside the walls of the Calverton household as a lady's companion waiting in anticipation of the day she can return to her ancestral home of Measham Hall. But when Alethea suddenly finds herself cast out on the plague-ridden streets of London, a long road to Derbyshire lies ahead. Militias have closed their boroughs off to outsiders for fear of contamination. Fortune smiles on her when Jack appears, an unlikely travelling companion who helps this determined girl to navigate a perilous new world of religious dissenters, charlatans and a pestilence that afflicts peasants and lords alike. The Master of Measham Hall is the first book in a page-turning historical series. In lyrical prose, Anna Abney portrays the religious divides at the heart of Restoration England in a timeless novel about survival, love, and family loyalty. PRAISE FOR THE MASTER OF MEASHAM HALL ‘It’s rare for a historical novel to feel so timely.’ Jo Baker, Sunday Times bestselling author of Longbourn ‘Impeccably researched and wonderfully atmospheric, with a heroine you can’t help rooting for.’ Frances Quinn, author of The Smallest Man ‘Exciting and immersive. It took me straight into the heart of Restoration England in all its rich and vivid detail. I was gripped! Such beautiful writing too - Anna is a stunning new talent.’ Nicola Cornick, international bestselling author of House of Shadows ‘A thoroughly engaging romp... By turns entertaining, surprising and thought-provoking, this is an impressive debut.’ Jane Johnson, author of The Sea Gate ‘A gripping depiction of what people will do to survive, the long-held beliefs and scruples questioned and cast aside as well as the unexpected kindnesses and unusual alliances made. In elegant prose, this enthralling novel puts a human face to the trials, terrors and enduring hopes of the plague years.’ Catherine Meyrick, author of The Bridled Tongue 'A thrilling and original tale of reinvention! Death in a time of plague is expected. What happens to Abney's heroine Alethea is not. The Master of Measham Hall is a vivid and extraordinary journey of survival, and ultimately an exploration of what we gain and what we lose as we pass through this world.' VL Valentine, The Plague Letters ‘A powerful and engaging story, full of good characters, satisfying plot turns, and excellent scene-setting. With all the details and insights on offer, it feels like a rich and rewarding panorama of English culture in the 1660s. The transformation of Alethea was wonderful to read, and genuinely gripping.’ Richard Hamblyn
Author: Orson Scott Card
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429958235
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 363
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Book Description
A collection of science fiction and fantasy tales by the acclaimed author offers readers ten excursions into the realm of the fantastic and the mythic. Orson Scott Card's Monkey Sonatas: Fables and Fantasies is part of the Maps in a Mirrors series of the author's extraordinary range of collected fiction. Introduction Unaccompanied Sonata A Cross-Country Trip to Kill Richard Nixon The Porcelain Salamander Middle Woman The Bully and the Beast The Princess and the Bear Sandmagic The Best Day A Plague of Butterflies The Monkeys Thought ‘Twas All in Fun Afterword At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Author: Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691028460
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292
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Book Description
This tripartite study of the monkey metaphor, the monkey performance, and the 'special status' people traces changes in Japanese culture from the eighth century to the present. During early periods of Japanese history the monkey's nearness to the human-animal boundary made it a revered mediator or an animal deity closest to humans. Later it became a scapegoat mocked for its vain efforts to behave in a human fashion. Modern Japanese have begun to see a new meaning in the monkey--a clown who turns itself into an object of laughter while challenging the basic assumptions of Japanese culture and society.
Author: Jill Greenberg
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 9780316005128
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Jill Greenberg offers a fascinating, funny, and all-too-human collection of celebrity monkey and ape portraits. Each of these 76 amazing anthropomorphic photographs will remind readers of someone they know. Little, Brown and Company
Author: Dario Maestripieri
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226501213
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 206
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Book Description
Judged by population size and distribution, homo sapiens are clearly the most successful primates. A close second, however, would be rhesus macaques, who have adapted to—and thrived in—such diverse environments as mountain forests, dry grasslands, and urban sprawl. Scientists have spent countless hours studying these opportunistic monkeys, but rhesus macaques have long been overshadowed in the public eye by the great apes, who, because of their greater intelligence, are naturally assumed to have more to teach us, both about other primates and about humans as well. Dario Maestripieri thinks it is high time we shelve that misperception, and with Macachiavellian Intelligence he gives rhesus macaques their rightful turn in the spotlight. The product of more than twenty years studying these fascinating creatures, Macachiavellian Intelligence caricatures a society that is as much human as monkey, with hierarchies and power struggles that would impress Machiavelli himself. High-status macaques, for instance, maintain their rank through deft uses of violence and manipulation, while altruism is almost unknown and relationships are perpetually subject to the cruel laws of the market. Throughout this eye-opening account, Maestripieri weds his thorough knowledge of macaque behavior to his abiding fascination with human society and motivations. The result is a book unlike any other, one that draws on economics as much as evolutionary biology, politics as much as primatology. Rife with unexpected connections and peppered with fascinating anecdotes, Macachiavellian Intelligence has as much to teach us about humans as it does about macaques, presenting a wry, rational, and wholly surprising view of our humanity as seen through the monkey in the mirror.
