David Lasser stands as one of the least-known but extraordinary pioneers of spaceflight. In 1930 he founded the American Interplanetary Society (AIAA) -- the same year he wrote this book -- the first book ever written in the English language to address the notion of spaceflight as a serious possibility. The book has not been in print since 1931 and yet it still stands up to scrutiny. The lucid style with which Lasser explains the basic concepts of rocketry make it a delight for anyone to read.
The concluding volume to the first biography of one of the most important, influential, and beloved twentieth-century sculptors, and one of the greatest artists in the cultural history of America--is a vividly written, illuminating account of his triumphant later years. The second and final volume of this magnificent biography begins during World War II, when Calder--known to all as Sandy--and his wife, Louisa, opened their home to a stream of artists and writers in exile from Europe. In the postwar decades, they divided their time between the United States and France, as Calder made his first monumental public sculptures and received blockbuster commissions that included Expo '67 in Montreal and the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Jed Perl makes clear how Calder's radical sculptural imagination shaped the minimalist and kinetic art movements that emerged in the 1960s. And we see, as well, that through everything--their ever-expanding friendships with artists and writers of all stripes; working to end the war in Vietnam; hosting riotous dance parties at their Connecticut home; seeing the "mobile," Calder's essential artistic invention, find its way into Webster's dictionary--Calder and Louisa remained the risk-taking, singularly bohemian couple they had been since first meeting at the end of the Roaring Twenties. The biography ends with Calder's death in 1976 at the age of seventy-eight--only weeks after an encyclopedic retrospective of his work opened at the Whitney Museum in New York--but leaves us with a new, clearer understanding of his legacy, both as an artist and a man.
Measuring just 2.5 x 4 cm with a simple black slipcase, The Conquest of Space. Atlas for the Use of Artists and the Military is an artist's book by Marcel Broodthaers originally published in 1975 in an edition of fifty numbered copies. As Broodthaers's last book, created shortly before his death in 1976, it embodies the artist's sardonic sense of humor with its plays on language and function - the title references the historic use of atlases by militaries for territorial conquests, but printed at such a miniature scale, it is unusable for its intended function. Furthering the level of intrigue with the book, Broodthaers did not follow established geographical organization, choosing rather to present only a small selection of countries organized in alphabetical order and graphically represented in identical size. This facsimile edition, published by The Museum of Modern Art, makes the artist's book available again for the first time since the original printing in 1975 in a limited edition of 500 copies.
New York Times Bestseller and Notable Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Book of the Year (Nonfiction) Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence (Nonfiction) From the most celebrated heir to Darwin comes a groundbreaking book on evolution, the summa work of Edward O. Wilson's legendary career. Sparking vigorous debate in the sciences, The Social Conquest of Earth upends “the famous theory that evolution naturally encourages creatures to put family first” (Discover). Refashioning the story of human evolution, Wilson draws on his remarkable knowledge of biology and social behavior to demonstrate that group selection, not kin selection, is the premier driving force of human evolution. In a work that James D. Watson calls “a monumental exploration of the biological origins of the human condition,” Wilson explains how our innate drive to belong to a group is both a “great blessing and a terrible curse” (Smithsonian). Demonstrating that the sources of morality, religion, and the creative arts are fundamentally biological in nature, the renowned Harvard University biologist presents us with the clearest explanation ever produced as to the origin of the human condition and why it resulted in our domination of the Earth’s biosphere.
Throughout history, the mysterious dark skies above us have inspired our imaginations in countless ways, influencing our endeavours in science and philosophy, religion, literature and art. Heavenly Treasures is a truly beautiful book showing the richness of astronomical theories and illustrations in Western civilization through the ages, exploring their evolution, and comparing ancient and modern throughout. From Greek verse, mediaeval manuscripts and Victorian poetry to spacecraft photographs and computer-generated star charts, the unprecedented wealth of these portrayals is quite breathtaking.
Although its roots lie in early rocket technologies and the international tensions that followed World War II, the space race began after the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957. The space race became an important part of the cultural and technological rivalry between the USSR and the United States during the Cold War. Modern space exploration is reaching unbelievable areas. Mars is the focal point of space exploration. In the long term, there are tentative plans for manned orbital and landing missions to the Moon and Mars, establishing scientific outposts that will then give way to permanent and self-sufficient settlements. Additional exploration will potentially involve expeditions and settlements on other planets and their moons, as well as the establishment of mining and fueling outposts, particularly in the asteroid belt. Physical exploration outside the solar system will be robotic in the foreseeable future.
