Tuesday, December 8, 2015

The Invention of Science

The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution
by David Wootton
Harper Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:



A companion to such acclaimed works as The Age of Wonder, A Clockwork Universe, and Darwin’s Ghosts—a groundbreaking examination of the greatest event in history, the Scientific Revolution, and how it came to change the way we understand ourselves and our world.

We live in a world transformed by scientific discovery. Yet today, science and its practitioners have come under political attack. In this fascinating history spanning continents and centuries, historian David Wootton offers a lively defense of science, revealing why the Scientific Revolution was truly the greatest event in our history.

The Invention of Science goes back five hundred years in time to chronicle this crucial transformation, exploring the factors that led to its birth and the people who made it happen. Wootton argues that the Scientific Revolution was actually five separate yet concurrent events that developed independently, but came to intersect and create a new worldview. Here are the brilliant iconoclasts—Galileo, Copernicus, Brahe, Newton, and many more curious minds from across Europe—whose studies of the natural world challenged centuries of religious orthodoxy and ingrained superstition.

From gunpowder technology, the discovery of the new world, movable type printing, perspective painting, and the telescope to the practice of conducting experiments, the laws of nature, and the concept of the fact, Wotton shows how these discoveries codified into a social construct and a system of knowledge. Ultimately, he makes clear the link between scientific discovery and the rise of industrialization—and the birth of the modern world we know.

Friday, December 4, 2015

Your Beauty Mark

Your Beauty Mark: The Ultimate Guide to Eccentric Glamour
by Dita Von Teese with Rose Apodaca
Dey Street Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:



From burlesque show to fashion runway, magazine cover to Internet video, fashion icon and “burlesque superheroine” (Vanity Fair) Dita Von Teese has undergone more strokes of red lipstick, bursts of hair spray, boxes of blue-black hair dye and pats of powder in a month than a drag queen could dream of in a lifetime. Whether she’s dazzling audiences swirling in a towering martini glass in Swarovski-covered pasties and stilettos or sparking camera flashes on the red carpet, one reality is constant: for this self-styled star, beauty is an art. Now, for the first time in her Technicolor career, Dita divulges the beauty wisdom that keeps her on international best-dressed lists and high-profile fashion show rosters in this illustration and photography-filled opus.

In Your Beauty Mark: The Ultimate Guide to Eccentric Glamour, Dita and co-writer Rose Apodaca take you through every step of Dita’s glamour arsenal, and includes friends—masters in makeup, hair, medicine, and exercise as well as some of the world’s most eccentric beauties—for authoritative advice. This 400-page book is packed with sound nutrition and exercise guidance, skincare and scent insight, as well as accessible techniques for creating bombshell hairstyles and makeup looks. Among the hundreds of lavish color photographs, instructive step-by-step images and original illustrations by Adele Mildred, this inspiring resource shares the skills, history, and lessons you need to enhance your individual gifts and realize your own beauty mark.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

What's In It For Me?

What's in it for me? A Personal Journal of Recovery...and Hope
by John L.
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Trade Paperback



Living in a world clouded with shadowy images of what constitutes a real man caused John to suffer from misguided perceptions for years. Although he meant well, reactions to his “reality” always led to disasters in every area of his life. He was incarcerated and didn’t know it. Untreated alcoholism and addiction have the only prison cells on the planet where the keys to escape are located on the inside… Follow John’s voyage of recovery as he navigates a myriad of adversities - some would stop people in their tracks - in efforts to become the person he always wanted to be but didn’t know how...

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Bang+Bang

Bang+Bang: My Life in Ink
by Bang Bang
Dey Street Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:



The celebrity tattoo artist takes fans on a tour through his life and art, combining captivating vignettes and stories with more than one hundred color photos.

Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Rita Ora, Cara Delevingne, Rihanna, and many more of the hottest celebrities in the world have been seen on the red carpet, on concert stages, and in magazine spreads wearing stunning ink created by Keith “Bang Bang” McCurdy, the most in-demand tattoo artist in the entertainment world. Bang Bang’s work has taken him across the country and around the globe, to any and every locale a celebrity client may request. From Rihanna’s controversial gun tattoos, to inking Justin Bieber at 40,000 feet—a record—each of Bang Bang’s tattoos comes with its own epic story. Now, this creative genius invites readers along on his adventures, sharing amazing tales from his life and career.

Named for the duel guns tattooed on his neck, Bang Bang began his career in his mom’s tiny Delaware kitchen. Self-taught, he practiced with a kit from an art store before eventually moving to New York. Over the past decade, Bang Bang’s talent and vision propelled his rise into the spotlight, and today, his fresh, accessible aesthetic draws men and women, tattoo vets and novices alike eager to experience his ultra-fluid and realistic designs created with the finest needles and inks. Bang Bang’s visual style transcends the clichés of the tattoo world; he creates a truly different form of art.

Filled with engaging personal stories and striking photographs that bring his bold, vibrant designs into detail, Bang Bang is a must-have for Bang Bang fans and tattoo lovers everywhere.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Drawing Blood

Drawing Blood
by Molly Crabapple
Harper Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:



Art was my dearest friend.
To draw was trouble and safety, adventure and freedom.
In that four-cornered kingdom of paper, I lived as I pleased.

This is the story of a girl and her sketchbook.

In language that is fresh, visceral, and deeply moving—and illustrations that are irreverent and gorgeous—here is a memoir that will change the way you think about art, sex, politics, and survival in our times.

From a young age, Molly Crabapple had the eye of an artist and the spirit of a radical. After a restless childhood on New York's Long Island, she left America to see Europe and the Near East, a young artist plunging into unfamiliar cultures, notebook always in hand, drawing what she observed.

Returning to New York City after 9/11 to study art, she posed nude for sketch artists and sketchy photographers, danced burlesque, and modeled for the world famous Suicide Girls. Frustrated with the academy and the conventional art world, she eventually landed a post as house artist at Simon Hammerstein's legendary nightclub The Box, the epicenter of decadent Manhattan nightlife before the financial crisis of 2008. There she had a ringside seat for the pitched battle between the bankers of Wall Street and the entertainers who walked among them—a scandalous, drug-fueled circus of mutual exploitation that she captured in her tart and knowing illustrations. Then, after the crash, a wave of protest movements—from student demonstrations in London to Occupy Wall Street in her own backyard—led Molly to turn her talents to a new form of witness journalism, reporting from places such as Guantanamo, Syria, Rikers Island, and the labor camps of Abu Dhabi. Using both words and artwork to shed light on the darker corners of American empire, she has swiftly become one of the most original and galvanizing voices on the cultural stage.

Now, with the same blend of honesty, fierce insight, and indelible imagery that is her signature, Molly offers her own story: an unforgettable memoir of artistic exploration, political awakening, and personal transformation.