Now a distinguished scholar offers the first comprehensive account of the evolutionary origins of art and storytelling. Brian Boyd explains why we tell stories, how our minds are shaped to understand them, and what difference an evolutionary understanding of human nature makes to stories we love.Art is a specifically human adaptation, Boyd argues. It offers tangible advantages for human survival, and it derives from play, itself an adaptation widespread among more intelligent animals. More particularly, our fondness for storytelling has sharpened social cognition, encouraged cooperation, and fostered creativity.After considering art as adaptation, Boyd examines Homer's "Odyssey" and Dr. Seuss's "Horton Hears a Who!" demonstrating how an evolutionary lens can offer new understanding and appreciation of specific works. What triggers our emotional engagement with these works? What patterns facilitate our responses? The need to hold an audience's attention, Boyd underscores, is the fundamental problem facing all storytellers. Enduring artists arrive at solutions that appeal to cognitive universals: an insight out of step with contemporary criticism, which obscures both the individual and universal. Published for the bicentenary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of "Origin of Species, " Boyd's study embraces a Darwinian view of human nature and art, and offers a credo for a new humanism.

    Everything about the New York Times Supersized Book of Sunday Crosswords is, well, supersized. At one hour per puzzle (that's pretty fast!), eight hours of solving per day, it would still take two months of solid solving to finish this book.

    With a unique combination of alphabetical and descriptive lists, it provides in one convenient, accessible volume all the rhetorical terms—mostly Greek and Latin—that students of Western literature and rhetoric are likely to come across in their reading or to find useful in their writing. Now the Second Edition offers new features that will make it still more useful:—A completely revised alphabetical listing that defines nearly 1,000 terms used by scholars of formal rhetoric from classical Greece to the present day.—A revised system of cross-references between terms.—Many new examples and new, extended entries for central terms.—A revised Terms-by-Type listing to identify unknown terms.—A new typographical design for easier access.

    Nevertheless, there are numerous situations where even very experienced players behave in predictable ways. These deeply-ingrained habits lead them to make mistakes. The problem is that these situations won’t often arise at the table by chance – you have to make them happen. Exploitative Play in Live Poker is a ground-breaking work that teaches you how to create the circumstances where your opponents will be likely to blunder and how to exploit them when they do. To achieve this you will need to put to one side starting hand charts, balance and GTO (Game Theory Optimal) play. Instead you will incorporate new concepts that may well place you outside your comfort zone. However, your style will now be forcing the other players at the table outside of their comfort zone and, unlike you, they won’t know how to adapt. Learn how to: * Counter the auto-continuation-bettor * Develop a powerful donk-betting strategy * Use the overbet, the check-raise and the three-barrel effectively * As well as being a highly successful player, Alex Fitzgerald runs a poker consultancy that serves more than 1,000 professional poker players in 60 countries. As part of this work, he has very likely trawled through more hand history databases than anyone else. This gives him a unique insight into how players really play, especially when placed under pressure and forced into unfamiliar situations.

    While it is often assumed that an interest in objects amounts to a form of materialism, Harman rejects this view and develops instead an "immaterialist" method. By examining the work of leading contemporary thinkers such as Bruno Latour and Levi Bryant, he develops a forceful critique of 'actor-network theory'. In an extended discussion of Leibniz's famous example of the Dutch East India Company, Harman argues that this company qualifies for objecthood neither through 'what it is' or 'what it does', but through its irreducibility to either of these forms. The phases of its life, argues Harman, are not demarcated primarily by dramatic incidents but by moments of symbiosis, a term he draws from the biologist Lynn Margulis.This book provides a key counterpoint to the now ubiquitous social theories of constant change, holistic networks, performative identities, and the construction of things by human practice. It will appeal to anyone interested in cutting-edge debates in philosophy and social and cultural theory.

    Moreover, this approach can be applied beyond videogames: Bogost suggests that any medium--from videogames to poetry, literature, cinema, or art--can be read as a configurative system of discrete, interlocking units of meaning, and he illustrates this method of analysis with examples from all these fields. The marriage of literary theory and information technology, he argues, will help humanists take technology more seriously and hep technologists better understand software and videogames as cultural artifacts. This approach is especially useful for the comparative analysis of digital and nondigital artifacts and allows scholars from other fields who are interested in studying videogames to avoid the esoteric isolation of "game studies."The richness of Bogost's comparative approach can be seen in his discussions of works by such philosophers and theorists as Plato, Badiou, Zizek, and McLuhan, and in his analysis of numerous videogames including Pong, Half-Life, and Star Wars Galaxies. Bogost draws on object technology and complex adaptive systems theory for his method of unit analysis, underscoring the configurative aspects of a wide variety of human processes. His extended analysis of freedom in large virtual spaces examines Grand Theft Auto 3, The Legend of Zelda, Flaubert's Madame Bovary, and Joyce's Ulysses. In Unit Operations, Bogost not only offers a new methodology for videogame criticism but argues for the possibility of real collaboration between the humanities and information technology.

    Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern. We have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves. And we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation of what it means to us. In other words, as Harry Frankfurt writes, "we have no theory."Frankfurt, one of the world's most influential moral philosophers, attempts to build such a theory here. With his characteristic combination of philosophical acuity, psychological insight, and wry humor, Frankfurt proceeds by exploring how bullshit and the related concept of humbug are distinct from lying. He argues that bullshitters misrepresent themselves to their audience not as liars do, that is, by deliberately making false claims about what is true. In fact, bullshit need not be untrue at all.Rather, bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. They quietly change the rules governing their end of the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant. Frankfurt concludes that although bullshit can take many innocent forms, excessive indulgence in it can eventually undermine the practitioner's capacity to tell the truth in a way that lying does not. Liars at least acknowledge that it matters what is true. By virtue of this, Frankfurt writes, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.

    You’ll find it fun to read too - written in simple, everyday language.And, if you’re like most people, you’ll find that learning “why” the law of attraction works will pour rocket fuel into your belief in it. And attaining such a level of belief will allow you to unleash the law of attraction more powerfully than you’ve done previously. Why Quantum Physicists Create More Abundance removes your barriers of doubt and resistance concerning the law of attraction. It can be a very powerful tool for you, helping you soar past previous frustrations and manifesting a life much more closely aligned with your dreams and desires.

    This is a comprehensive book specifically aimed at undergraduate students of engineering and conforming to the syllabi of major institutes teaching this subject. Adopting a direct, functional and practical approach, the book presents an exhaustive treatment of the basics of technical communication, both oral and written. It covers contemporary topics such as technical proposals, research papers, technical theses, dissertations, and instruction manuals. Also included are recent developments in communication technology such as the use of the Internet and contemporary software. With its up-to-date coverage and practical orientation, the book would prove to be an extremely useful text for students, while also serving as a ready reference for day-to-day communication.

    This work serves as an introduction to basic composition skills through systematic integration of paragraph organization, rhetoric, grammar, sentence structure and the writing process.

    

    Lewis's classic analysis springs from the conviction that literature exists for the joy of the reader and that books should be judged by the kind of reading they invite. Crucial to his notion of judging literature is a commitment to laying aside expectations and values extraneous to the work, in order to approach it with an open mind.

    Negotiating this minefield and emerging with flying colours is a source of great strain and anxiety for Indian pupils and parents alike. Who can guide students to develop good study habits and thus get better results?ENTER 13 STEPS TO BLOODY GOOD MARKS.After the stupendous success of 13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck and 13 Steps to Bloody Good Wealth, bestselling author Ashwin Sanghi (along with co-author, Ashok Rajani) presents a power-packed little book that provides simple, straightforward and effective steps that are a sure-fire way to obtain Bloody Good Marks!

    This is a book about how many of the 'big' philosophical and religious questions that have puzzled mankind for centuries can be answered by recent breakthroughs in science.

    On a crisp winter morning, Richard, a successful, self-made CEO runs into Zoya, a quirky, free-spirited artist. The meeting leaves them struggling to find a balance between what they believe about life, and what is actually out there.What You Seek is Seeking You is a heart-warming tale about what happens when you are forced to question everything you ever knew to be true. Refreshingly honest, it helps you rethink some of your most fundamental beliefs – the ones that hold the very canvas of your life in place, but which in fact may be limiting you.Setting the scene with a lively fable, Azim & Brian share insightful and tangible ways to:• Invite Positive Coincidences and Attract What You Seek• Set Goals, Remain Focused and yet Stay Detached from the Outcome• Enhance Your Business AcumenBrian Tracy is one of the finest self-help speakers of all times, a bestselling author of 70 books and a human potential expert. He has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and has spoken to 5,000,000 people in 65 countries. Brian is the Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International and his goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined.Azim Jamal is one of the finest inspirational life altering speakers who has spoken to more than 1,000,000 people worldwide in 26 countries and his various media messages have been heard by more than 5,000,000 people. He is the CEO and founder of Corporate Sufi Worldwide whose mission is to inspire individuals and corporations to unleash their power within and find harmony between Business, Balance and Beyond.