For Beginners

Stanislavski (1863 – 1938) was the first person to develop a cogent and practical system of acting. Throughout his life he sought the answers to some fundamental questions:· What is great acting?· Is there a grammar of acting? Can it be taught?· What are the steps you should go through to create a character?· How can you find inspiration at every performance?Stanislavski remains the most important

Why does philosophy give some people a headache, others a real buzz, and yet others a feeling that it is subversive and dangerous? Why do a lot of people think philosophy is totally irrelevant? What is philosophy anyway? The ABCs of philosophy --easy to understand but never simplistic. Beginning with basic questions posed by the ancient Greeks - What is knowledge? What is good and evil?"Philosophy

From Paleolithic cave-painting to postmodernism, ART THEORY FOR BEGINNERS is a concise and entertaining survey of the major historical and current debates on art. Painters, theorists and philosophers are all included to show how the idea of art has developed over the last 5,000 years.Art is a visual representation of a range of concepts, stories and emotions, including curiosity, humanity, politic

Marx's 'Das Kapital' cannot be put into a box marked "economics." It is a work of politics, history, economics, philosophy and even in places, literature (yes Marx's style is that rich and evocative). Marx's 'Das Kapital' For Beginners is an introduction to the Marxist critique of capitalist production and its consequences for a whole range of social activities such as politics, media, education

C.S. Lewis For Beginners is a thorough examination of C. S. Lewis, the greatest Christian apologist of the twentieth century, throughout his career as an author and as a professor at Oxford University. A Christian apologist defends Christianity as a consistent and coherent worldview that squares with human reason, history, and desire. It offers answers to every facet of our lives on earth as wel

What is Black History? Did you know what blacks were in Cortez’s crew in Mexico, with Pizarro in Peru and Alvarado in Quito…that when Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean, 30 black people were with him….that when Alarcon and Coronado conquered Mexico, black people were with them too? Any misunderstandings between blacks and whites in today’s society tend to stem from the mi

J.R.R. Tolkien sweeps us away to a distant time and place that is at the same time, our own time and place. He takes us to a world where difficult choices must be made and are made, where character is defined by those choices, and where redemption is possible though not always embraced.The Lord of the Rings taps a deep root in the human psyche. There is much death, destruction, and defeat in Tolki

PROUST FOR BEGINNERS is a compelling biography of French novelist, Marcel Proust, and a vivid portrait of his times. It, also, serves as a concise guide and critical review of In Search of Lost Time (À la recherche du temps perdu, 7 volumes, 1913–1927), one of the most difficult—yet widely taught—works of French literature.With extensive passages from 'In Search of Lost Time' and other essential w

Originally published by Writers and Readers in 1998 and republished in 2008 by Hampton Roads, this is an iconoclastic, illustrated romp through the life of the Buddha - both a credible exploration of his life and teachings and an entertaining introduction to the philosophy of Buddhism. Many Westerners know about the meditation practices of Buddhism, but few understand the Buddha's philosophical te

Music history is nearly as old as human civilisation itself and while it has permeated the arts and popular culture for centuries, it still has a mystifying aura surrounding it. But fear not - it's not as complicated as it seems and anyone can learn the origins and history of Western classical music. In addition to learning how better to understand (and enjoy!) classical music, THE HISTORY OF CLAS

PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX FOR BEGINNERS is a graphic narrative project that attempts to distill the fundamental components of what scholars, activists and artists have identified as the Mass Incarceration movement in the United States. As far back as the early 1990s, activist critics of the US prison system, marked its emergence as a “complex” in a manner comparable to how President Eisenhower mar

Charles Bukowski, novelist, short-story writer, poet, journalist and cult figure of the dissident and rebellious, was born in Germany in 1920 and died in the USA in 1994. During his life he was hailed as "laureate of American lowlife" by Time Magazine and literary critic, Adam Kirsch of The New Yorker, wrote: "the secret of Bukowski's appeal. . . [is that] he combines the confessional poet's promi

A crowd of onlookers gawked from the pavement as four young black men dressed in black leather jackets and berets leapt from a Volkswagen, each of them wielding shotguns with bandoliers strapped across their bodies. The young men surrounded two white police officers who had accosted a black man and had him spread-eagled against a building.The young men did not say a word as the police officers wat

A concise, accessible introduction to the great linguist who shaped the study of language for the 20th century, SAUSSURE FOR BEGINNERS puts the challenging ideas of Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) into clear and illuminating terms, focusing on the unifying principles of his teachings and showing how his thoughts on linguistics migrated to anthropology.Ferdinand de Saussure's work is so powerful

Year after year science continually proves that global climate change is real. But what does it all really mean and what can or should we do about it?CLIMATE CHANGE FOR BEGINNERS is a clear, fluid narrative by a leading scientist and lecturer who takes a scrupulously balanced approach in explaining the history of global climate monitoring and change and the whos, hows, whats, whens, wheres and why

Music theory is the study of the fundamental elements of music and how it is written. MUSIC THEORY FOR BEGINNERS was developed for anyone interested in learning to read and write music, a task that can be quite daunting for novices. This book, however, will allay any fears and set you on the path to learning what all those dots, lines and symbols actually mean. It provides the necessary scholarly

Before you read any further, take a few moments to note all of the devices that are powered by electricity within a 10-foot radius of your body. The number will astonish you. Imagine how this number grows exponentially as you broaden the circle beyond the room, throughout the building, around the block and out across the world. It is hard to imagine that one man - Nikola Tesla - was responsible fo

MORMONISM FOR BEGINNERS is a balanced, richly engaging introduction to the history, tenets, practices, traditions and, yes, debates and controversies of this uniquely American Protestant movement. Designed for the uninitiated or younger members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), this book presents the history of the movement from Joseph Smith to the 21st century along with t

If you haven't read Toni Morrison, TONI MORRISON FOR BEGINNERS will introduce you to her novels - plot descriptions, subtexts, reviews and Morrison's comments on her work. However, if you have read - or attempted to read - Toni Morrison, you may need this book even more. Many people consider Morrison's novels difficult to read. Most of her readers have at least one book on their shelves that they

Many people have heard of Freemasonry, but few have any idea what it is, what it does or why it exists. FREEMASONRY FOR BEGINNERS will give you the basic facts about Freemasonry and why it remains active today. Freemasonry is not a religion, but rather a spiritual self-help society whose declared purpose is to help members become better citizens and it has a strong track record in doing just that