We have a date certain for the beginning of that book offer that I keep talking about—two books at special prices offered exclusively to you here on TOP, and nowhere else. Very kind of the publishers to do this.
The sale offer will begin on Thursday morning, the 25th, and end the following Tuesday at midday. Both books are in limited supply and it'll be strictly first come, first served. Please stop in to see the announcement on Thursday at 7:00 a.m. Central. I'll also be a twee twit—a twitterer—(I'm sorry, I can't take those words seriously)—and send out a tweet the moment the offer goes up.
Mike
Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
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Featured Comments from:
Dennis: "How ironic—I won't be able to check in until night time because I'll be away all day at Photoplus Expo! I'll keep my fingers crossed that inventory holds out."
by Richard Benson. Richard is an intensely interesting fellow, a polymath of photo printing and reproduction who held some high position or other at Yale for a while, and even won one of those MacArthur "genius grants" we were talking about the other day. I don't know him, and I know precious little about him, really (rumor has it there was a New Yorker profile of him once—I really should go look that up), but I keep catching wind of various of his many accomplishments. Native Nations was a book that he masterminded the reproduction for, and it is a beautiful book—I've been enamored of it since first acquaintance. It's the only monograph representation of Curtis in my library, and the only one I want. Worth going considerably out of your way to find.
and 
are also among those "touchstones"...and 
is going to be very interesting to check out) and 
....
. This movie has always been on my personal ten best list (for what that's worth), since I saw it in college, while other movies drift in and out of the top ten. It's the story of a tiny Medieval Japanese village that's being threatened by a band of brigands. The villagers pool their resources and hire seven samurai—wandering independent warriors—to protect them. It's got everything you want a classic movie to have: a crackling narrative, wonderful photography, great acting, just enough of a love story, and fight and battle scenes aplenty—and along the way, humor, pathos, tension, character studies, and more great scenes than you can count. It's the greatest masterpiece of one of the world's greatest directors from the age of photography, before computer effects took over movies. 
.
, were inspired by the revelation that snapshots featuring three women have been extraordinarily common throughout photo history. The images, rather than the curator or the donor of the collection were the stars.
(75th Anniversary Edition) (
) is now (in only two months) the all-time #1 bestseller through TOP's links, with 1,007 copies sold through Amazon in the U.S. (869 copies) and the U.K. (138).
. That link's to Amazon.com (USA); here's 
.
. It bears an October 1st date of publication, but it's available now.
and 
. Both are excellent in every way."
. Aperture Foundation, 2011, pp. 64–74. The essay, and the whole book of Papgeorge's essays and talks, is well worth the read! 
by Geoffrey Canada. (The title refers to the increasing lethality of the weapons commonly used in inner-city fights over the years.) You've probably seen Geoffrey Canada 
by Alain de Botton. (
.
by James W. Loewen—who, by the way, looks a bit like
Abraham Lincoln might have if he had grown old. This is an almost
outlandishly popular book for a history title, having sold more than a million copies since
1995. Intellectually, it's like candy. Just a treat. Every nation has it "mythos"—the
inspiring lore that props up its power structure and unifies its citizens,
like the "fact" that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree as a
boy and then refused to lie about it to his father**—and there's nothing
wrong with that on the face of it; peoples and nations need their
stories. But the truth behind the stories is often far more fascinating,
and, not surprisingly, reflects human nature with greater authenticity. (Note that the readers' reviews on Amazon run on arguably longer than the book itself, and contain every conceivable slant on interpretation. I suggest you just read the book yourself instead; it's easier, and much more fun, and afterwards you can make up your own mind.)
, translated by John M. Cohen. (
.) Sarah Bakewell's brand spanking new biography of Michel de Montaigne, 
, which I loved, has ignited a brushfire of interest in the French philosopher and writer, inventor of the essay and type genus of the reflective introvert. And that got me to thinking about reading Montaigne. Screech, in England, and Frame, in America, are considered the standard translations, and although of course I have 
(doesn't everybody? I can't conceive otherwise), which is always described as "contemporary," it's actually pretty creaky, being as old as I am (vintage 1957), and Frame tries to respect the somewhat unfamiliar diction of Montaigne's 16th-century French. Like most people, I read several of the essays in school, and acquaint myself with one or two more from time to time, and then put the brick back in place up on the shelf. So I did a little readin'n'research, and concluded that the best volume for actually reading Montaigne is John M. Cohen's Penguin Books selected works. Cohen's English has an easy fluency that I find good to read, and, let's face it, you really don't need to read all of Montaigne to get a good idea. Better to read Cohen's selections and Bakewell's biography together. Frame's language, admirable though his translation undoubtedly is, seems halting and a bit opaque by contrast.
by Frans de Waal. (
.) The author looks at human nature through the prism of primatology. Some readers complain that he anthropomorphizes chimpanzees too much, although that might just as well be a function of human beings' extreme reluctance to associate any of our own honored feelings and impulses to animal behavior and instinctual programming. Theory aside—this is a popular book rather than a scientific one—the renowned Dutch ethologist and primatologist is a facile and entertaining writer and a fine storyteller, and at the very least you'll come away from this book having "met" the bonobo as a distinct cousin of the chimps (and of ours), and with a heightened sense and appreciation for the drama of the lives and societies of these amazing creatures. (If you can read the famous story of Luit without emotion, you have a steelier heart than I.) He also really does make you think about our animal nature—however you come down on the issue in your own mind. Not the last word on human nature—what is?—but a rewarding (and thought-provoking) read for sure.
by Robert Wright. Nonzero really changed the way I think about world history and human relations. To me, Nonzero was just as big of a mental bombshell as Jared Diamond's 
."
? Charles Eisenstein...if not check it out!"
by Stephen Greenblatt?
2012 Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction;
2011 National Book Award for Non-Fiction.
Couldn't put this one down...."
.
with its 41-MP camera.
. (Not everyone is reading 
.) "This book is a litany of failure," 
; and a copy of the video game Sniper Elite V2. (I get a report of what was sold, but not how purchases were grouped and no identification at all as to who the buyer was—that's to protect your privacy.)
. There are celebrations all over the English-speaking world. (Or should I say, the English-reading world. Or perhaps I should say the Irish-reading world!)
, he warned us about the consequences of the technological, totalitarian state. In 
he wrote the best description of childhood I have ever read.
, find a shady tree, and disappear into the book.
is on my list of recommended works by Mr. Bradbury."
, by Bruce Schneier
, by Bro. Guy Consolmagno, S.J.
by Julia Serano
, by Olivia Judson
. [
. It's still available. I used to really love that book, and paged through it, lovingly, many times, but then I learned that Nick has a rather low opinion of it, to the point that I think he might have gotten rid of his copy. (Or maybe he was just considering it). I hope he'll chime in here and speak for himself, but as I recall he felt the book really wasn't true to the aspect of Magnum I mentioned above. I have a poor mind for recalling quotations verbatim, but he said something to the effect that Magnum photographs really weren't meant to be seen in compendiums—even, I suppose, "greatest hits" compendiums with running commentary such as In Our Time.
in the fall, too.
