David Bradshaw Knihy

This is a powerful comparative history of philosophical thought in the two halves of Christendom.

It all starts with a phone call late on a Saturday evening, a week before Christmas, to inform him that Edie, his mother, has died. This call sets in motion a series of events that are incredible, hilarious and surreal. And all because Edie wanted to donate her body to medical research. David was determined to fulfil his mum's wishes but, oh, did he have a few words with her along the way!Edie and Eric, David's parents, were a curious couple. More different two people couldn't be - Edie full of fun and mischief, with a wicked and unrestrained sense of humour; Eric with almost no sense of humour, but who unwittingly caused so much warm mirth in his family.Edie would have revelled in the bizarre happenings following her death, but Eric would have been mortified, so would always need protecting from the craziness of it all.And though he was protected from the events following his beloved Edie's death, he had to face some traumas of his own before he peacefully died nine years later.

Huxleyho satirická antiutopie Konec civilizace (1932) je spolu se Zamjatinovou novelou My a Orwellovým románem 1984 jednou z prvních vizí budoucnosti, která domýšlí důsledky formujících se diktátorských režimů meziválečné Evropy. K napsání knihy vedly Huxleyho vlastní zkušenosti s Mussoliniho Itálií a zprávy ze Sovětského svazu. Jeho vize budoucnosti se složitě a pevně strukturovanou společností, v níž je geneticky a psychologicky předem určeno postavení každého jedince, je sice velmi hořká a pesimistická, nicméně realita, zosobněná Hitlerem a Stalinem, byla ještě mnohem horší. Jak sám později přiznal: „Diktatura budoucnosti v mé představivosti byla mnohem méně brutální nežli budoucí diktatura výborně popsaná Orwellem.“ O stálé aktuálnosti této knihy svědčí to, že snahy o naplnění Huxleyho vizí – manipulace jedincem od samého jeho početí především – je možné vysledovat ve výrocích mnoha novodobých „inženýrů lidských duší“ – jak u politiků s diktátorskými sklony, tak i u vědců, bádajících v podmínkách demokratických společností. Vydání třetí, v nakladatelství Maťa první.

A collection of Aldous Huxley's letters, essays from magazines, and broadcasts between the wars. They show how his contempt for mass society and his belief in the existence of a cultural elite gave way to a liberal humanism and a concern for the well-being of ordinary people.

Esej kultovního autora, jež ovlivnila celá 60. léta nejen v Americe. Jedna z prvních knih zabývajících se bez předsudků halucinogeny a jejich vlivem na lidské vědomí. Huxley se v ní snaží o docenění psychologického a spirituálního efektu, který pro člověka mohou drogy představovat. V práci se projevuje autorův zájem o biologii a přírodní vědy.

A Passionate Apprentice comprises the first years of Virginia Woolf's Journal - from 1879 to 1909. Beginning in early January, when Woolf was almost fifteen, the pages open at a time when she was slowly recovering from a period of madness following her mother's death in May 1895. Between this January and the autumn of 1904, Woolf would suffer the deaths of her half-sister and of her father, and survive a summer of madness and suicidal depression. Behind the loss and confusion, however, and always near the surface of her writing is a constructive force at work - a powerful impulse towards health. It was an urge, through writing, to bring order and continuity out of chaos. Putting things into words and giving them deliberate expression had the effect of restoring reality to much that might otherwise have remained insubstantial. This early chronicle represents the beginning of the future Virginia Woolf's apprenticeship as a novelist. These pages show that rare instance when a writer of great importance leaves behind not only the actual documents of an apprenticeship, but also a biographical record of that momentous period as well. In Woolf's words, 'Here is a volume of fairly acute life (the first really lived year of my life).'

Animals are often anthropomorphized in children's books. Then came the idea of taking the process a stage further by illustrating various animals with medical problems that afflict humans. Whoever heard of a pig with halitosis, or a snake that lost a fang? Always written in humorous, but simple verse, to appeal to the child in each adult as well as the child itself. Included is a lion that has lost his teeth, and feels shame and a parrot that won't let any one look in his mouth. Has he got teeth? Finally, a story about a rat with compassion. The five animals featured in the book all tell a story, with a happy ending as all children's books should have. The characters come to life because of the amazing artwork, especially as some animals are old but still sensitively and humorously depicted.