Living for science, music and peace

The great physicist Victor Weisskopf (1908–2002) studied under Wolfgang Pauli, Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger in Leipzig and Berlin. He was forced to leave his native Austria before the Nazi occupation on account of his Jewish heritage. He subsequently joined the team of scientists on the Manhattan Project in the USA, where he was involved in the development of the atom bomb. By the time he fully realized the consequences of his work, however, it was already too late. From then on, he became a vocal opponent of nuclear weapons. A belated realization in the moral dilemma of atomic physics, or a logical conclusion for the man who later became a professor at MIT and the director of CERN? An enthralling, well-founded biography of this physicist and passionate pianist.

A legendary linguistic legacy – in a new, extended edition complete with foreword and new word-pictures to celebrate what would have been Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s 95th birthday.

One of the keys to Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s artistry was his ingenious talent for conveying musical content in verbal images. Author and choral singer Sabine M. Gruber – both a participant and an observer – kept a record of Harnoncourt’s rehearsal instructions in her notes for 30 years. Combining original quotes with essays, she sheds light on the personality of the man and artist, while exploring the essence of his musical and artistic process. A book full of humour, musical truth and essential wisdom.

Death, wood and eternal life

Few things are as diverse as deadwood. So much more than the remnants of old trees on the forest floor, it comes in an array of forms, providing habitats for insects and other organisms. Dead roots under the water, wooden coffins buried beneath the ground in urban spaces – this close interplay of decay and new life is all around us. If we look closely, we can see how the once-extinct beaver is now paving the way for other species, like the endangered saproxylic beetle. Deadwood also teaches us to have a positive outlook for our coexistence with local biodiversity, showing that there have already been a number of improvements in the past hundred years. An exciting journey through the secret world of insects, fungi and other creatures that live in the deadwood in our forests, parks and gardens.

The ultimate questions in one book

Should we follow those who seek the truth, or those who say they have found it? Sven Michaelsen’s answer is clear: the key to whether we consider our lives successful or misspent is in asking ourselves and our neighbours the right questions. Opinions and claims aren’t what bring insights; the curvy question mark is what matters. Whether love or happiness, loneliness or shame, desire or fidelity: the art of living means adopting a different approach to the fraught space between contradictory answers, perceiving it as poetry of thought and the basis for smart choices. After 777 questions, we understand: unless we are willing to face ourselves, we will not find anyone else, either.

The new paradigm is that of regenerability.

We live in an age where we find ourselves confronted with seemingly insoluble problems, many of them stemming from humanity’s increasing alienation from nature and from ourselves. We cannot hold back this development with sustainability, factual knowledge and technological innovation alone. We are on the verge of a paradigm shift: regenerability. It is nature’s own processes and principles – from the tiniest cells to the biggest ecosystems – that serve as a model here. They are a testament to billions of years of evolution towards self-organised, resilient systems. Human beings, too, are a part of this process. Grassberger shows how a fundamental shift in values can regenerate human health, society and economics, allowing them to thrive long-term.

Biologist Martin Reich guides us through the new world of fermentation laboratories and a host of new possibilities.

If we make the switch from agriculture to brewing kettles, we could drastically reduce the catastrophic impact of our diet on the environment and the climate. The thousands-of-years-old tradition of fermentation is having something of a renaissance thanks to advances in biotechnology. Now, with bioreactors, scientists are looking to produce real cheese without cows, real eggs without hens, and much more. The vision: much more food on much less land. But how are these new products made? What do they mean for us, and what will become of agriculture? Are we even ready for a fermentation revolution? To find the answers to these questions, Martin Reich has set out on a journey through laboratories, breweries and the intellectual world of researchers, critics and dreamers.

A whip-smart essay about how to deal with the future developments in Artificial Intelligence.

Do ChatCPT and generative AI pose a threat to our civilization, or are they an opportunity? The latest algorithms seem to be getting more and more intelligent; they encroach on every aspect of life and are getting increasingly difficult for human beings to grasp. Should we be worried – and are we worrying about the right things? How are we supposed to control machines we cannot understand? If the focus of AI is shifting from intelligence to communication, this raises completely different questions. Ever since algorithms stopped trying to reproduce human intelligence, they have learned to become increasingly competent and efficient interlocutors. Now it is down to us to learn how we can communicate with them.

The new, comprehensive work on the controversial revolutionary!

Fanatic or beacon of hope? Who was this revolutionary, whose ideas shaped not only Russia but the whole world? This biography centres around the career and thinking of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, digging deeper into entrenched prejudices, rearranging seemingly established connections and offering surprising explanations as to how an outsider rose to become the leader of the first socialist state. Drawing on a comprehensive array of original documents, the authors delve into the biography of a man who is considered one of the twentieth century’s most influential figures. The result is a new, multi-layered portrait of Lenin, telling the story of one lone maverick during a time of extraordinary upheaval. Thrilling, informative and captivating!

Great composers under fire: amusing scathing reviews from throughout history.

‘Bruckner composes like a drunkard’: this was the conclusion reached by one music critic in 1866, after the Viennese premiere of Anton Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony. You don’t hear this sort of opinion much these days, when the great works of the classical repertoire – admired, revered, above any reproach – are performed in concert halls and opera houses across the world. A glance into the archives, however, reveals some disrespectful but amusing takes: Thomas Leibnitz shows how harsh contemporary critics could be towards works by composers now considered the undisputed giants of classical music – Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi, Anton Bruckner, Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg.

The follow-up to the bestselling "When the Jasmine Leaves" goes straight to the heart.

In "When the Jasmine Puts Down Roots", Jad Turjman explains what happened to him after he successfully fled Syria and made a new home in Austria. He reflects on the differences and commonalities between the two cultures, the linguistic gaffes that Syrians learning German can make, and the racism that has sometimes confronted him. Of course, Austrians and their quirks also come under the microscope, and his outsider’s viewpoint is often highly illuminating. Turjman explores how a person can process traumatic events and describes his personal experience of therapy. The follow-up to his bestselling "When the Jasmine Leaves" is multi-layered, humorous and profound.