Doing Almost Nothing

Doing Almost Nothing PDF Author: Marc Treib
Publisher: Oro Editions
ISBN: 9781940743844
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Until now, writings about the architect/landscape architect Georges Descombes have been relatively limited, appearing primarily in publications in Switzerland and abroad as conversations, interviews, and conference proceedings; most of them have appeared only in French. However, during his forty years of practice, Descombes has developed and applied a method unique to landscape architecture, one in which an extremely broad vision, both scientifically and culturally, shapes his thinking and projects. Descombes enters each project by attempting to understand the existing conditions on site and how, using minimal means and interventions, those conditions can be modified to meet the requirements of the program and those appropriate to the natural or urban environment. To some critics it would appear that Descombes has always done too little on and to the site, and in some instances have condemned him for "doing almost nothing." Although simplicity usually demands greater concentration and study, it often yields greater rewards that result from just that restraint. Perhaps how we approach the world is more important that how we shape the world. Descombes's landscapes are instructive in this regard. In our current era, the concern for the planet as a whole, its dwindling resources, the despoiling of its air, water, and land, and an exploding population have skewed the profession's focus toward sustainability, ecology, resilience, and other related concerns. In the process, the social role played by landscape architecture has been lessened, if not forgotten, and the role of form, space, composition, and materials--that is to say the aesthetic dimension of landscape design--has become a distant concern. Descombes's practice strikes that vital balance between effective environmental performance and the ethical creation of beauty. Instead of favoring one pursuit over the other, or relying on a delimiting specialization, he works in a way that may be justifiably regarded as both/and rather than either/or - a comprehensive vision that weds nature and culture, landscape and architecture, people and milieu.

Doing Almost Nothing

Doing Almost Nothing PDF Author: Marc Treib
Publisher: Oro Editions
ISBN: 9781940743844
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book Here

Book Description
Until now, writings about the architect/landscape architect Georges Descombes have been relatively limited, appearing primarily in publications in Switzerland and abroad as conversations, interviews, and conference proceedings; most of them have appeared only in French. However, during his forty years of practice, Descombes has developed and applied a method unique to landscape architecture, one in which an extremely broad vision, both scientifically and culturally, shapes his thinking and projects. Descombes enters each project by attempting to understand the existing conditions on site and how, using minimal means and interventions, those conditions can be modified to meet the requirements of the program and those appropriate to the natural or urban environment. To some critics it would appear that Descombes has always done too little on and to the site, and in some instances have condemned him for "doing almost nothing." Although simplicity usually demands greater concentration and study, it often yields greater rewards that result from just that restraint. Perhaps how we approach the world is more important that how we shape the world. Descombes's landscapes are instructive in this regard. In our current era, the concern for the planet as a whole, its dwindling resources, the despoiling of its air, water, and land, and an exploding population have skewed the profession's focus toward sustainability, ecology, resilience, and other related concerns. In the process, the social role played by landscape architecture has been lessened, if not forgotten, and the role of form, space, composition, and materials--that is to say the aesthetic dimension of landscape design--has become a distant concern. Descombes's practice strikes that vital balance between effective environmental performance and the ethical creation of beauty. Instead of favoring one pursuit over the other, or relying on a delimiting specialization, he works in a way that may be justifiably regarded as both/and rather than either/or - a comprehensive vision that weds nature and culture, landscape and architecture, people and milieu.

How to Do Nothing

How to Do Nothing PDF Author: Jenny Odell
Publisher: Melville House
ISBN: 1612197507
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
** A New York Times Bestseller ** NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY: Time • The New Yorker • NPR • GQ • Elle • Vulture • Fortune • Boing Boing • The Irish Times • The New York Public Library • The Brooklyn Public Library "A complex, smart and ambitious book that at first reads like a self-help manual, then blossoms into a wide-ranging political manifesto."—Jonah Engel Bromwich, The New York Times Book Review One of President Barack Obama's "Favorite Books of 2019" Porchlight's Personal Development & Human Behavior Book of the Year In a world where addictive technology is designed to buy and sell our attention, and our value is determined by our 24/7 data productivity, it can seem impossible to escape. But in this inspiring field guide to dropping out of the attention economy, artist and critic Jenny Odell shows us how we can still win back our lives. Odell sees our attention as the most precious—and overdrawn—resource we have. And we must actively and continuously choose how we use it. We might not spend it on things that capitalism has deemed important … but once we can start paying a new kind of attention, she writes, we can undertake bolder forms of political action, reimagine humankind’s role in the environment, and arrive at more meaningful understandings of happiness and progress. Far from the simple anti-technology screed, or the back-to-nature meditation we read so often, How to do Nothing is an action plan for thinking outside of capitalist narratives of efficiency and techno-determinism. Provocative, timely, and utterly persuasive, this book will change how you see your place in our world.

The Lazy Girl's Guide to Life

The Lazy Girl's Guide to Life PDF Author: Jennifer Byrne
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1507204450
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
"This collection of humorous life hacks features 100 low-commitment solutions to the everyday problems of the twenty-something woman. Learn how to get things done with as little effort as possible. Learn to simplify your beauty routine, keep up with your friendships, hack the dating game, and get by in the corporate world with these easy suggestions"--

Work Won't Love You Back

Work Won't Love You Back PDF Author: Sarah Jaffe
Publisher: Bold Type Books
ISBN: 1568589387
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
A deeply-reported examination of why "doing what you love" is a recipe for exploitation, creating a new tyranny of work in which we cheerily acquiesce to doing jobs that take over our lives. You're told that if you "do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life." Whether it's working for "exposure" and "experience," or enduring poor treatment in the name of "being part of the family," all employees are pushed to make sacrifices for the privilege of being able to do what we love. In Work Won't Love You Back, Sarah Jaffe, a preeminent voice on labor, inequality, and social movements, examines this "labor of love" myth—the idea that certain work is not really work, and therefore should be done out of passion instead of pay. Told through the lives and experiences of workers in various industries—from the unpaid intern, to the overworked teacher, to the nonprofit worker and even the professional athlete—Jaffe reveals how all of us have been tricked into buying into a new tyranny of work. As Jaffe argues, understanding the trap of the labor of love will empower us to work less and demand what our work is worth. And once freed from those binds, we can finally figure out what actually gives us joy, pleasure, and satisfaction.

Why I Write

Why I Write PDF Author: George Orwell
Publisher: Renard Press Ltd
ISBN: 1913724263
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description
George Orwell set out 'to make political writing into an art', and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell's essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. In Why I Write, the first in the Orwell's Essays series, Orwell describes his journey to becoming a writer, and his movement from writing poems to short stories to the essays, fiction and non-fiction we remember him for. He also discusses what he sees as the 'four great motives for writing' – 'sheer egoism', 'aesthetic enthusiasm', 'historical impulse' and 'political purpose' – and considers the importance of keeping these in balance. Why I Write is a unique opportunity to look into Orwell's mind, and it grants the reader an entirely different vantage point from which to consider the rest of the great writer's oeuvre.

Hunger

Hunger PDF Author: Martin Caparros
Publisher: Melville House
ISBN: 1612198058
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 545

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Book Description
"Nothing less than astonishing..."—Booklist (starred review) From a renowned international journalist comes a galvanizing international bestseller about mankind's oldest, most persistent, and most brutal problem—world hunger. There are now over 800 million starving people in the world. An average of 25,000 men and women, and in particular children, perish from hunger every day. Yet we produce enough food to feed the entire human population one-and-a-half times over. So why is it that world hunger remains such a deadly problem? In this crucial and inspiring work, award-winning author Martín Caparrós travels the globe in search of an answer. His investigation brings him to Africa and the Indian subcontinent where he witnesses starvation first-hand; to Chicago where he documents the greed of corporate food distributors; and to Buenos Aires where he accompanies trash scavengers in search of something to eat. An international bestseller when it first appeared, this first-ever English language edition has been updated by Caparrós to consider whether conditions that have improved or worsened since the book's European publication. With its deep reflections and courageous journalism, Caparrós has created a powerful and empathic work that remains committed to ending humankind's longest ongoing crisis.

The American Missionary

The American Missionary PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Congregational churches
Languages : en
Pages : 732

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Book Description
Vols. 13-62 include abridged annual reports and proceedings of the annual meetings of the American Missionary Association, 1869-1908; v. 38-62 include abridged annual reports of the Society's Executive committee, 1883/84-1907/1908.

What Extraordinary People Know

What Extraordinary People Know PDF Author: Anthony Moore
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1728209331
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 62

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Book Description
What's the secret to "extraordinary?" Being stuck in mediocrity sucks. It's easy to identify the symptoms of this disease in your life: are you chronically bored? Do you wake up knowing today is going to suck? Are you constantly fighting off feelings of emptiness, exhaustion, and knowing you're wasting your life? Well, eff that! Every moment of every day, you can choose to be extraordinary. You can choose to become someone you're incredibly proud to be, who accomplishes amazing goals and achieves greatness. What Extraordinary People Know guides you through how to be free of the mediocrity trap: starting with the inspiration, tools, and kick in the ass you need to get your life going in high gear—from behavioral change and personal growth expert Anthony Moore. As someone who took his own life from ordinary to extraordinary, Moore has created a three-step path to breaking free of Mediocrity and becoming the hero of your own life. Are you ready to win?

A Visit From the Goon Squad

A Visit From the Goon Squad PDF Author: Jennifer Egan
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1849017409
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOKS OF 2010 Jennifer Egan's spellbinding novel circles the lives of Bennie Salazar, an ageing former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the troubled young woman he employs. We first meet Sasha in her mid-thirties, on her therapist's couch in New York City, confronting her longstanding compulsion to steal. We meet Bennie at the melancholy nadir of his adult life - divorced, struggling to connect with his nine-year-old son, listening to a washed-up band in the basement of a suburban house. Although Bennie and Sasha never discover each other's pasts, the reader does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs, over many years, in many places. With music pulsing on every page, this is a startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption. Breathtaking work from one of our boldest writers. 'Irresistible. Fiction of the highest quality' Sunday Times 'Egan's precise, calm underwater prose is a persistent pleasure' Daily Telegraph 'Stories that defy narrative convention' Financial Times 'A must-read' Sunday Times

18 Wellbeing Hacks for Students

18 Wellbeing Hacks for Students PDF Author: Aidan Harvey-Craig
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
ISBN: 178775281X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
How can the desk in front of you reveal a whole new perspective on your life? What's so important about refusing to board the catastrophe train? Why does the anti-rotting agent given off by plants make you feel great? Through 18 short chapters, Aidan Harvey-Craig scours every corner of psychology - from neuroscience to psychodynamics - to uncover the unexpected secrets of hacking your wellbeing. Based on the latest research, each chapter takes you on a journey of surprises, guiding you through an abundance of deceptively simple ideas which will help you to see your world in a new light and improve your wellbeing. Organised into three sections - 'Notice', 'Energise' and 'Connect' - each hack addresses issues that affect us all, including our sleep, relationships, stress, identity, and our dependence on smartphones. Intertwining the latest insights in psychology with practical and easy-to-use advice, this book offers new ways to empower yourself and tackle the challenges of growing up and studying in the 21st Century.