Architecture Philosophy

Who does the Mona Lisa actually depict? Why do we still look to the Greeks and Romans to inform our politics? Where do we find meaning in a world dominated by technology? Culture is like a language. Art, architecture, history and philosophy are its grammar. And, like a language, anyone can learn...

Brought to you by Penguin. What is art, where do I find it, and once I’m in front of it, what am I supposed to think about it? Kate Bryan is a self-confessed art addict who has worked with art for over twenty years. But before she studied art history at university, she’d been into a gallery...

The Matrix conveys the horror of a false world made of nothing but perceptions. Based on the premise that reality is a dream controlled by malevolent forces, it is one of the most overtly philosophical movies ever to come out of Hollywood. These thought-provoking essays by the same team of young...

This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. What if reality is far richer than anything you've been taught to see? Most people move through life recognizing objects, places, and people. Few ever learn how to discover the hidden worlds that exist within them. In The Discoverer: A New Theory of...

“Timely and punchy... won't let you look away”—The Guardian “Essential, sparklingly smart.”—Dan Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Plantagenets and Henry V A bold, expansive argument for a new way to understand immoral art in our time of cultural and political upheaval...

"Tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage... Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence... It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order. It is essentially a worship of the...

In this companion volume to The Discoverers, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Daniel J. Boorstin brings to life more than three thousand years of human artistic achievement, examining painting, sculpture, architecture, theology, philosophy, history, poetry, drama, literature, dance, music, and film.

One of the great, but often unmentioned, causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kind of walls, chairs, buildings, and streets we’re surrounded by. And yet a concern for architecture and design is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. The Architecture of Happiness starts from the idea that where we are heavily influences who we can be - and argues that it is architecture’s task to stand as an eloquent reminder of our full potential.

From bestselling author Kenneth C. Davis comes a treasure trove of answers to questions about our world. Was there an Atlantis? What's the smallest country in the world? What's the difference between a jungle and a rain forest? Kenneth C. Davis, author of Don't Know Much About History, Don't...

The Book of Tea (1906) by Okakura Kakuzō is a long essay which examines the role of chadō (Teaism) in the aesthetic and cultural aspects of Japanese life. The author explains Teaism as “a philosophy founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence”. Originally written in English for a western audience, the essay deals with the spiritual traditions of Zen and Taoism, as well as the secular side of tea in Japanese life.