Complete Catalog 154 Result(s)

Physicist and complexity researcher Stefan Thurner explains what the world of molecules can teach us about our society.

For thousands of years, humans have lived in complex social networks, from small groups on the savannah to today’s megacities. But what happens when these networks change faster than we can adapt? Why is our society fragmenting into separate bubbles, and why is polarisation increasing? What does the digital revolution mean for friendships, communication, supply chains, flows of information and social cohesion? Stefan Thurner takes us on an extraordinary intellectual journey from atoms and molecules to people and societies. In clear and accessible terms, he shows how natural laws and mathematical models can explain social dynamics—and how cooperation can remain possible even under new conditions.

What shapes the relationship between humans and animals beyond romanticisation, utility and moral outrage?

This book explores our contradictory relationship with animals, our evolutionary relatives. We both protect and hunt them; we value them as helpers and companions; we eat them and we fear them; and we recognise ourselves in the images and fables we create about them. So what connects us with other animals? Drawing on compelling stories and the latest findings from psychology, biology and ethics, this book presents a wide-ranging portrait of human–animal relationships. It demonstrates why animals, as our other selves, are more central than ever to our wellbeing, health and social order. From this emerges the political task of conceiving a right to live with animals and of redefining their claim to our respect.

Agroecology is the future!

Despite historically high levels of productivity, agriculture has reached a turning point: the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and other global crises are exposing the limits of our food system. While the organic movement has shown that more sustainable forms of agriculture are possible, yet it often remains a niche on a global scale. Urs Niggli presents the next step: agroecology. It combines ecological principles with local knowledge, social responsibility and economic viability, while making intelligent use of scientific innovation. Good ideas must continually be rethought, and even the best methods must not be allowed to stagnate. Organic farming was just the beginning. Agroecology is the path towards a form of agriculture capable of feeding everyone.

Understanding instead of despair—a constructive take on our political crisis

Globalisation and digitalisation have brought tremendous prosperity—and also polarisation, status anxiety and political anger. Right-wing populists from Trump to Weidel to Kickl have taken advantage of these profound shifts, offering simple answers instead of actual solutions. This book shows how globalisation and social media fuel populism, and why democratic parties have reacted so feebly. Still, crying about it won’t get us anywhere, so Fritz Jergitsch—social media expert and commentator on contemporary politics—outlines a new liberalism for the twenty-first century: one that ensures a fair share in progress, digital democracy and a clear commitment to freedom and the rule of law. A passionate argument for why our democracy needs a refresh.

Legendary musician Nikolaus Harnoncourt on an extraordinary composer: Mozart

The genius and his interpreter: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Nikolaus Harnoncourt in dialogue. This volume brings together Harnoncourt’s writings on Mozart, offering insights into the thinking and practice of a musician who fundamentally altered our approach to the great composer’s work. Harnoncourt helped to liberate Mozart’s music from the anachronistic ideas imposed on them and to make them accessible to contemporary listeners. He explains the various competing factors involved when performing historical music, as well as the challenges for interpreters and listeners. Drawing on his own experience, he reveals the complexities and dramatic tension of historical performance, aiding a deeper understanding of these timeless masterpieces.

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.

Hanns Zischler traces the fascinating success story of the pencil – the simplest, most versatile and most ephemeral means of putting our words on paper.

According to Hanns Zischler, the modern era began with the pencil as much as with the printing press. As commonplace as it is indispensable, the pencil shapes our handwriting; we need it for quick notes, for underlining in our books, for drawings and lists. We love its different degrees of hardness and tips – and the fact that its mark can be erased. The exciting history of the pencil stretches from the discovery of graphite in 1564 to industrial production since the 18th century and right up to the present day. Along the way, we explore ‘pencil territories’, discover the new genre of sketching, meet Alice in Wonderland and learn all about a ‘parasitic ally’: the eraser.

Ebba D. Drolshagen weaves surprising details, cultural-historical knowledge and personal passion into a wonderful little book.

This is about more than two sticks and a very, very long thread. Ebba D. Drolshagen recounts an incredible wealth of stories in a knowledgeable and entertaining way: from the knitting Madonna by the painter Meister Bertram to the invention of the eight-pointed Norwegian star, from patterns that migrate to guerrilla knitting, from sheep and reindeer wool to the Norwegian Sweater Curse and the web community called Ravelry. She reports on knitting as a livelihood, as a hobby, as a means of disciplining unruly girls, as a political statement and, of course, as a proven way to keep warm.

An entertaining and realistic account of life as part of an intentional community.

Our homes have a big impact on what kind of lives we lead—whether we are lonely, how much we are contributing to climate change, how hard we have to work to cover the cost of our housing. When Barbara Nothegger started looking for a new home for her young family, she became fascinated by these very questions. Despite many objections, she decided to risk an experiment, moving with her family into a communal living project in Vienna. A hundred people built a home for themselves, which included various shared areas and open spaces for residents to come together, share and interact. After more than ten years in the building, Nothegger explores in this humorous guidebook what makes modern communities succeed, and how being a good neighbour can help facilitate climate-friendly living.

Moving everyday stories from a year of chaos

Spring, 1945: caught between the advancing Allied armies, Austria was temporarily transformed into a political no-man’s land. There was chaos, hope and fear. Drawing on the everyday lives of ordinary people, Kurt Bauer vividly explores this tumultuous year. There is the Wehrmacht soldier who takes a long and winding road home; the Jewish emigre forced into exile in 1938, returning to his home town as part of the victorious army—only to find that the old Vienna of his childhood is gone; the Jewish woman who survived the war in Vienna and now wants to get to the USA as quickly as possible … a multifaceted and gripping book.