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Een pleidooi voor kleinschaligheid, uit artikelen in Vrij Nederland

Komen er in de toekomst groenten die smaken als snoep? Kun je in 2030 nog frisdrank met calorieën kopen? Slikken alle ouderen dan een polypil? Niemand kan de toekomst voorspellen. Erover nadenken kan wel. Moet wel. Want veranderingen van morgen beginnen bij keuzes van vandaag. Nieuwe technologie maakt steeds meer mogelijk. Van het maken van steeds complexere moleculen, tot het meten van minuscule veranderingen in het lichaam of het gericht afleveren van stoffen in bepaalde organen. Technologie kan helpen bij het verbeteren van onze gezondheid, maar het kan ook bijdragen aan een ongezonder leven. Dit boek geeft een overzicht van huidige trends en onzekerheden op het gebied van voeding, geneesmiddelen en ziektepreventie en vertaalt deze naar verschillende beelden voor de toekomst.

Beschrijving van een methode, om in de Hebreeuwse bijbel allerlei verborgen voorspellingen van rampzalige gebeurtenissen te achterhalen.

For twenty-five years, David Thomson’sBiographical Dictionary of Filmhas been not merely “the finest reference book ever written about movies” (Graham Fuller,Interview), not merely the “desert island book” of art critic David Sylvester, not merely “a great, crazy masterpiece” (Geoff Dyer,The Guardian), but also “fiendishly seductive” (Greil Marcus,Rolling Stone). Now it returns, with its old entries updated and 300 new ones—from Luc Besson to Reese Witherspoon—making more than 1300 in all, some of them just a pungent paragraph, some of them several thousand words long. In addition to the new “musts,” Thomson has added key figures from film history—lively anatomies of Graham Greene, Eddie Cantor, Pauline Kael, Abbott and Costello, Noël Coward, Hoagy Carmichael, Dorothy Gish, Rin Tin Tin, and more. Here is a great, rare book, one that encompasses the chaos of art, entertainment, money, vulgarity, and nonsense that we call the movies. Personal, opinionated, funny, daring, provocative, and passionate, it is the one book that every filmmaker and film buff must own. Time Out named it one of the ten best books of the 1990s. Gavin Lambert recognized it as “a work of imagination in its own right.” Now better than ever—a masterwork by the man playwright David Hare called “the most stimulating and thoughtful film critic now writing.” From the Hardcover edition.

This is Britain as you've never read it. This is Britain as it has never been told.

From Newcastle to Cornwall, from the birth of the twentieth century to the teens of the twenty-first, Girl, Woman, Other follows a cast of twelve characters on their personal journeys through this country and the last hundred years. They're each looking for something - a shared past, an unexpected future, a place to call home, somewhere to fit in, a lover, a missed mother, a lost father, even just a touch of hope . . .

In a third North American rail journey, the author of Making Tracks and his native Latin collaborator explore not only the rich past of Mexico and the country's beautiful landscape, but also the conflict between their choice of transportation and the Mexican culture itself.

Why are contemporary secular theorists so frequently drawn to saints, martyrs, and questions of religion? Why has Joan of Arc fascinated some of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century? In a book that faces crucial issues in both critical and feminist inquiry, Françoise Meltzer uses the story of Joan as a guide for reading the postmodern nostalgia for a body that is intact and transparent. She argues that critics who place excessive emphasis on opposition and difference remain blind to their nostalgia for the pre-Cartesian idea that the body and mind are the same.

Engaging a number of theorists, and alternating between Joan's historical and cultural context, Meltzer also explores the ways in which postmodern thinkers question subjectivity. She argues that the way masculine subjects imagine Joan betrays their fear of death and necessitates the role of women as cultural others: enigmatic, mysterious, dark, and impossible. As such, Joan serves as a useful model of the limits and risks of subjectivity. For Meltzer, she is both the first modern and the last medieval figure. From the ecclesial jury that burned her, to the theorists of today who deny their attraction to the supernatural, the philosophical assumptions that inform Joan's story, as Meltzer ultimately shows, have changed very little.

For nearly three decades Japanese Culture has garnered high praise as an accurate and well-written introduction to Japanese history and culture. This widely used undergraduate text is now available in a new edition. Thoroughly updated, the fourth edition includes expanded sections on numerous topics, among which are samurai values, Zen Buddhism, the tea ceremony, Confucianism in the Tokugawa period, the story of the forty-seven ronin, Mito scholarship in the early nineteenth century, and mass culture and comics in contemporary times.

Dave Lowry juxtaposes his singular experience as an adept student of kenjutsu (the art of swordsmanship) under a Japanese teacher in St. Louis with a riveting account of the samurai tradition in Japan. Intertwining tales of the masters with reflections on his own apprenticeship in the samurai's arts, he reveals in their time-honored methods a way of life with profound relevance to modern times.

Looking back almost 1,000 years, the mists of Japan's chaotic past shroud the development of a way of life, an ancient struggle waged against fierce feudal lords who ruled the island nation with swords of steel and a code of death before dishonor. The people of the mountainous regions of what is now Iga prefecture wanted to live in peace, but their lords had other plans-so the people learned the martial arts of self-defense and used their meager farm tools as weapons against the samurai blades of their oppressors. Nine traditions of the ninja arts grew out of this seemingly endless struggle, and legends were told of the supernatural abilities of the ninja fighters. The ninja never gained the kind of power that topples tyrants, but they gained a reputation that made tyrants cautious. And they gained the kind of power that makes the spirit endure and the mind the master of its fate. Told in actual stories of past grandmasters and in dojo lectures on techniques-with photographs, drawings, and paintings-the last surviving grandmaster of the ancient art of ninjutsu, Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi, presents Essence of Ninjutsu: The Nine Traditions. In it, he explains why, after more than 900 years, the art of the shadow warriors continues to inspire and serve practitioners from around the world. Dr. Hatsumi's book contains historic ninja scrolls and describes techniques for self-defense, and it debunks tricks that are attributed to the ninja but actually derive more from the circus than the martial arts. Essence of Ninjutsu is a fascinating, authoritative look at the roots of ninjutsu and how it continues to enrich the lives of its practitioners today. Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi is a bone doctor, artist, and writer, as well as the 34th grandmaster of the nine schools of the ninja arts in Japan. He has toured the United States in recent years to help Americans better understand the ninja and their way of life. His articles have appeared in all of the major martial arts magazines.

"Two stories placed in front of each other like mirrors. The first is set in first-century Rome and relates the rise and fall of Mazuf, a homosexual Syrian scribe who becomes a renowned man of letters and a murderer. The second is a confession by a present-day American named Laurence; it seems to be simply a record of his sexual exploits during his student days at Harvard, but we soon find out there is much more to his tale than first appears. Laurence, a disaffected and sophisticated narrator, is a murderer too. But what is the connection between the two men? Is the key an old copy of Edward Gibbon's 'Decline and fall of the Roman Empire'? And can stories change, not only the future, but more compellingly, the past?"--Page 4 of cover.

The Green Parrot is a strange and beautiful story with the faintly arid charm of a miniature painted on the cover of a seventeenth snuff box. There is a great deal of reticent drama, but no melodrama. The overtones of the story are left to the reader's imagination. The result is a slender, but captivating and completely self sufficient novel. THE NEW YORK TIMES

An essential collection from one of the finest thinkers and stylists in contemporary letters. The celebrated author of The New York Trilogy, The Book of Illusions, and Oracle Night presents here a highly personal collection of essays, prefaces, true stories, autobiographical writings, and collaborations with artists, as well as occasional pieces written for magazines and newspapers, including The Invention of Solitude his "breathtaking memoir." (Financial Times Magazine London)

Ranging in subject from Sir Walter Raleigh to Kafka, Nathaniel Hawthorne to the high-wire artist Philippe Petit, conceptual artist Sophie Calle to Auster's own typewriter, the World Trade Center catastrophe to his beloved New York City itself, Collected Prose records the passions and insights of a writer who "will be remembered as one of the great writers of our time" (San Francisco Chronicle).

"The New York Trilogy," consists of three interlocking novels: "City of Glass," "Ghosts," and "The Locked Room" - haunting and mysterious tales that move at the breathless pace of a thriller. "City of Glass" As a result of a strange phone call in the middle of the night, Quinn, a writer of detective stories, becomes enmeshed in a case more puzzling than any he might have written "Ghosts" Blue, a student of Brown, has been hired to spy on Black. From a window of a rented house on Orange street, Blue stalks his subject, who is staring out of his window. "The Locked Room" Fanshawe has disappeared, leaving behind his wife and baby and a cache of novels, plays, and poems. What happened? Features an introduction from Luc Sante and incredible cover illustrations by Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic artist Art Spiegelman, creator of "Maus" and "In the Shadow of No Towers".

Winter Evening Tales (1820, second edition 1821) was James Hogg's most successful work of prose fiction in his lifetime. Its experimental medley of novellas, tales, poems and sketches posed a lively alternative to the dominant form of the historical novel established by Walter Scott.The collection includes terse masterpieces of mystery and the uncanny, virtuoso improvisations on folktale themes, and two brilliant autobiographical novellas, The Renowned Adventures of Basil Lee and Love Adventures of Mr George Cochrane.This paperback edition takes account of newly-discovered information about An Old Soldier's Tale and The Long Pack. A critical introduction, explanatory notes, reading list and Hogg chronology are provided to assist the reader in appreciating Hogg's entertaining and challenging tale collection to the full.

To the Native American, the word "medicine" means more than a substance to restore health. It refers to a vital energy force available to all who call upon it--and also means "knowledge". This practical handbook of shamanic self-mastery offers a distillation of the ancient shamanic truths of the Native American, blended with wisdom derived from the East and from Europe.

Native Americans had a close affinity with the earth and an understanding of the natural forces which shaped their environment.

They recognised that not only were our physical bodies composed of the elements of the earth but our core personalities also were influenced by seasonal characteristics and by the tides of time governed by the Sun and the Moon. The time of birth was no chance happening of fate, but an indication of personality traits and inherent potentials we were each born with to meet the challenges of life. The key to exploring your individuality is a Birth Totem - an animal representation which indicates the characteristics and attributes which combined together comprise your 'medicine' - your inner power and resources.

Learn how to-
- Identify your own Birth Totem
- Connect yourself to your true potential
- Discover your life purpose and learn how to fulfil it
- Explore all aspects of your life including health and relationships.

A new science of living that will release your hidden potential and creative imagination.

Modern science has an inadequate and incomplete understanding of the nature of human life itself because it tends to be concerned solely with the physical and ignores the spiritual, assigning it to the province of the theologian where it has rested on 'faith' and belief in the supernatural.

The first English translation of the Memoirs of Marchand is "an invaluable contribution to those interested in the Napoleonic period. As Napoleon's valet, Marchand is in constant contact with the Emperor during the last ten years of his life. "Educated, discreet, and devoted", Marchand records the personal work habits, relationship with family and staff, events at the Tuileries, Waterloo, the Bellerophon, the Northumberland, and finally, the moment of death. "There is no doubt of the authenticity of these Memoirs, nor the truth of the facts which Marchand reports", states Napoleonic scholar Jean Tulard, Professor at the Sorbonne, Member of the Institute of France. "This is the last of the Napoleonic manuscripts to be translated into English".

When Kent Nerburn received a letter from Jennifer, a young woman questioning her calling to spend her life in the arts, the writer and artist was struck by how closely her questions mirrored the doubts and yearnings of his own youth.

Nerburn resolved that he would write his own letter: a letter of welcome and encouragement to all young artists setting out on the same strange and magical journey, sharing the wisdom of a life spent working in the arts.

From struggles with money and the bitterness of rejection, to spiritual questions of inspiration and authenticity, Dancing With the Gods offers insight, solace and courage to help young artists on the winding road to artistic fulfilment. Tender and joyous, it is a celebration of art's power to transform the darkest of human experience and give voice to the grandest of human hopes.

In this volume, Nobel Prize-winning author Elie Wiesel retells stories from the hasidic masters.

This book is a beautiful study of the interplay between past and present. The narrator of the novel is a lifelong traveller--Cambridge, Budapest, New York, Tel Aviv, The Hague, and Zurich are all cities he has lived in. But wherever he stays, the impressions he gets and the people he sees remind him of figures from long ago: a lost friend, a former lover, and above all, his father. He has a past, but the present eludes him, and he moves about the world as if he is a ghost, his intrusive memories ensuring that he is never completely alone and yet never completely happy. The writing is spare and elegant, and this enchanting novel will not be easily forgotten.

Marcus Cato Sulla Aemilius Paullus Pompey The Gracchi Marius Julius Caesar Anthony 'I treat the narrative of the Lives as a kind of mirror...The experience is like nothing so much as spending time in their company and living with them: I receive and welcome each of them in turn as my guest.' In the eight lives of this collection Plutarch introduces the reader to the major figures and periods of classical Rome. He portrays virtues to be emulated and vices to be avoided, but his purpose is also implicitly to educate and warn those in his own day who wielded power. In prose that is rich, elegant and sprinkled with learned references, he explores with an extraordinary degree of insight the interplay of character and political action. While drawing chiefly on historical sources, he brings to biography a natural story-teller's ear for a good anecdote. Throughout the ages Plutarch's Lives have been valued for their historical value and their charm. This new translation will introduce new generations to his urbane erudition. The most comprehensive selection available, it is accompanied by a lucid introduction, explanatory notes, bibliographies, maps and indexes. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

The Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the plays for modern readers * a new, modern-spelling text, collated and edited from all existing printings * on-page commentary and notes explain meaning, staging, allusions, and much else * detailed introduction considers composition, sources, performances, and changing critical attitudes to the play * illustrated with production photographs and related art * full index to introduction and commentary * durable sewn binding for lasting use not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth- century scholarship. Times Literary Supplement ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

This selection of John Donne's most powerful prose shows that the man remembered predominantly for his poetry was also a preacher, and a prose writer of extraordinary power. In it, he explores the metaphysical collision between poetry and religion, suicide and duty, the secular and the spiritual that characterized his times. Edited with an introduction and notes by Neil Rhodes.

Extraordinary and diverse people inhabit this rich, ripe, occasionally raucous collection of short stories. Some are based on real people - Jeanne Duval, Baudelaire's handsome and reluctant muse who never asked to be called the Black Venus, trapped in the terminal ennui of the poet's passion, snatching at a little lifesaving respectability against all odds...Edgar Allen Poe, with his face of a actor, demonstrating in every thought and deed how right his friends were when they said 'No man is safe who drinks before breakfast.'

And some of these people are totally imaginary. Such as the seventeenth century whore, transported to Virginia for thieving, who turns into a good woman in spite of herself among the Indians, who have nothing worth stealing. And a girl, suckled by wolves, strange and indifferent as nature, who will not tolerate returning to humanity.

Angela Carter wonderfully mingles history, fiction, invention, literary criticism, high drama and low comedy in a glorious collection of stories as full of contradictions and surprises as life itself.

This remarkable, moving story takes us on a seductive journey through his childhood and adolescence, along Jerusalem's war-torn streets in the 1940s and '50s and into a small apartment crowded with books in twelve languages and relatives speaking nearly as many. Caught between them is one small boy with the weight of generations on his shoulders. Oz dives into 120 years of family history and paradox, the saga of a Jewish love-hate affair with Europe that sweeps from Vilna and Odessa, via Poland and Prague, to Israel. Farce and heartbreak, history and humanity make up this story of clashing cultures and lives, of suffering and perseverance, of love and darkness.

With evocative black and white drawings, this is a thorough yet accessible history of Ireland, written in 1868 (this editions is from 2001) and featuring the famous and infamous inhabitants and events of Ireland.

When it was first published in 1994, Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom quickly became an international bestseller, and for the past fifteen years it has remained the veritable bible of women's health. Now, in this revised and updated edition, world-renowned and much-beloved women's health expert Dr. Christiane Northrup shares with us the latest developments and advances that will maximize our potential for living well in our bodies today. Inside you will discover

* new material on sexuality, and how to have a more fulfilling sex life
* why good sex (with or without a partner) is important for your health
* the spiritual and scientific principles behind healing, and how you can utilize these principles for your own health and the health of others
* the truth about HPV and herpes: what every woman needs to know to protect herself and her partner
* vital information about how to dissolve PMS and ease menstrual cramps
* nonsurgical treatments for pelvic adhesions, infertility, and pelvic pain
* extraordinary facts on Vitamin D--and why it is crucial for breast, cardiovascular, and immune system health
* the importance of the preconception diet and how to greatly decrease the risk of birth defects
* how to birth naturally, despite the current induction and C-section epidemic
* all you need to know about thyroid function, including proper blood tests
* life-saving facts about cellular inflammation--the root cause of all chronic degenerative diseases--and how to prevent this condition
* the essentials on the "fountain of youth molecule"--and how to enhance your levels of it for vibrant health

Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom is a behind-the-scenes tour of the female body, showing you how to truly thrive and flourish. Remember: Living a healthy life in a woman's body can be downright fun--even ecstatic! And that's good news for everyone--women, men, and their children.