Garden Philosophy

Most people know that Gregor Mendel, the Moravian monk who patiently grew his peas in a monastery garden, shaped our understanding of inheritance. But people might not know that Mendel's work was ignored in his own lifetime, even though it contained answers to the most pressing questions raised by Charles Darwin's revolutionary book, On Origrin of the Species, published only a few years earlier. Mendel's single chance of recognition failed utterly, and he died a lonely and disappointed man.

The history of philosophy has been a predictably tragic or comical succession of palliatives for human disquiet. Thinkers from Spinoza to Berdyaev have pursued the perennial questions of how to be happy, how to be good, how to be loved, and how to live in a world of change and loss. But perhaps we can learn more from cats - the animal that has most captured our imagination - than from the great thinkers of the world. In Feline Philosophy, the philosopher John Gray discovers in cats a way of living that is unburdened by anxiety and self-consciousness....

La magia del orden, de Marie Kondo, la gurú japonesa de la organización, ha revolucionado los hogares y las vidas de millones de personas a lo largo del mundo. Este audiolibro presenta el aclamado método KonMari, que explica paso a paso el plegado de todas las prendas desde camisetas hasta calcetines, además de enseñarnos cómo obtener armarios y cajones perfectamente organizados.

Humans have long turned to gardens—both real and imaginary—for sanctuary from the frenzy and tumult that surrounds them. Those gardens may be as far away from everyday reality as Gilgamesh’s garden of the gods or as near as our own backyard, but in their very conception and the marks they bear of human care and cultivation, gardens stand as restorative, nourishing, necessary havens.

When Dr. David Hosack tilled the country's first botanical garden in the Manhattan soil more than 200 years ago, he didn't just dramatically alter the New York landscape; he left a monumental legacy of advocacy for public health and wide-ranging support for the sciences. In melodic prose, historian Victoria Johnson eloquently chronicles Hosack's tireless career to reveal the breadth of his impact. The result is a lush portrait of the man who gave voice to a new, deeply American understanding of the powers and perils of nature.

調和 Chōwa: Japan's Dance with Tradition and Innovation - Ancient Wisdom for Our Technological Future 🏮 Discover the Secret Balance That Powers the World's Most Fascinating Culture 🤖 What if the answer to our modern dilemma—how to embrace the future without losing our soul—has existed for centuries in Japan? In a Tokyo kindergarten, children bow to a robot before programming it. At Japan's most sacred shrine, priests completely rebuild the entire structure every twenty years—a tradition unchanged since 690 CE. A family sweet shop founded before Columbus discovered America ...

If you have spent any part of your life with a dog, you may have found certain questions popping, unbidden, into your mind: Is my dog living a fulfilled life? Is my dog a good dog? Does my dog love me? Addressing these questions compels you to confront not just your dog's life but yours as well—to think about what fulfillment, and meaning, in life really is. In The Word of Dog, philosopher Mark Rowlands explores these questions and suggests that in dogs we can see hints—faint, shrouded, but discernible—of what a better way of living might look like.

In Japanese gardens, composition follows from placement of the first stone; all elements and plantings become interconnected. These eight essays on Kyoto gardens similarly begin with keen description and build into richly meditative excursions into art, Buddhism, nature, and science. Landscape architect Marc Keane shows how Japanese gardens are both a microcosm of the natural universe and a clear expression of our humanity, mirroring how we think, worship, and organize our lives and communities.

From the author of the critically acclaimed Laura & Emma comes a The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. for our times: Kate Greathead's razor-sharp but big-hearted excavation of millennial masculinity, The Book of George. "Baker captures the overarching impact of the audiobook, making this listening...

From his vantage point as a garden designer and writer based in Kyoto, Marc Peter Keane examines the world around him and delivers astonishing insights through an array of narratives. How the names of gardens reveal their essential meaning. A new definition of what art is. What trees are really made of. The true meaning of the enigmatic torii gate found at Shinto shrines. Why we give flowers as gifts. The essential, underlying unity of the world.

The idea that our homes can communicate professional as well as personal identities may seem as new as the work-from-home revolution. But it was second nature to the ancient Romans, for whom the home was in many ways the center of public and private life. Roman authors saw infinite practical and symbolic value in houses, and they have much to say about them. How to Make a Home presents some of the best Roman writings on houses—from buying and selling to designing and decorating.

After several millennia living as a lone sentinel in the Garden of Eden, the angel Tesque is contemplating leaving his post in rebellion against God. Meanwhile, in another time and place, a professor of mathematics isolates herself in remote Iceland as she finds herself increasingly at odds with society. The connection between these two characters? A letter, a sentient dog, and a deep-seated resistance to the demands of love.

In Material, Kary takes listeners along with him to visit some of the places where modern artisans are preserving, and in some cases passing on, the old craft skills. His vivid descriptions and eye for detail make this book a rich and delightful listen, and the natural and cultural history he imparts along the way provides an important context for understanding our own past and the roots of our industrial society. Personal, engaging, and filled with memorable people, landscapes, and scenes, Material is a rich celebration of what it means to imagine and create.

In the vein of Albert Camus’ great existential novels, The Plague and The Stranger, and JP. Sartre’s existential rite-of-passage, Nausea, M. Vignjevic’s The Peacock Agenda is the story of Ayda Ayduk, a man who is a sort of recluse, and who cannot accept that cannibalism is the dietary norm in his community while at the same time adhering, even enthusiastically so, to the practice himself. This odd man works during the day in the morgue as an assistant to the Chief Medical Examiner and a young man named Krot, all the while surreptitiously retrieving suicide victims for his own ...

Originating as a 1950's creative partnership between feminist/futurists Annselm L.N.V. Morpurgo and Billie Ann Taulman under the pen name 'Artemis Smith', the early collaborative effort in the arts became severely affected by Taulman's incapacitation and long and debilitating illness. Its culture-shattering militant agenda (and eventual bid for a Nobel) is contained in the Information Science Unisex Manifesto that "while System Architecture may vary, Soul Is Gender-Free" and was carried forward into the 21st Century by Morpurgo, publishing under the renewed label of 'ArtemisSmith'. ...

The solution is almost always fewer things. That's the Naked House philosophy in a nutshell, though the importance of top-notch organization (a place for everything and everything in its place), design unity, cleanliness, and quality round out this book’s description of the most desirable, peaceful home in which to live. With a tongue-in-cheek, personal style, The Naked House is an inspiring but not-too-serious primer on cleaning, organizing, and reducing clutter - and on changing the way you view the purpose and soul of your home.

If you feel overwhelmed, stressed, and like you constantly have a huge weight on your shoulders, odds are you need to declutter your life. Decluttering is highly necessary in today’s world, but what is not always known is how to recognize the point at which you need to start. You also need to know how to do it and what to look for to know if it’s working. This audiobook has all that and more. We break it down to a level almost anyone can apply to his or her unique circumstances.

Both Stoicism and Minimalism go hand in hand, decluttering your mind as well as decluttering your life, leaving space and energy for the things that matter and are important to you. Having strategies for both is essential to making the most out of these timeless teachings. Life moves at a very fast pace these days, and the Stoic teachings will enable you to not "sweat the small stuff".

Outside in the sunshine, with flowers and plants, Abby Adams, Susan Hill, Christopher Lloyd, and more let their creative juices flow to produce this companion to The Writer in the Garden. It too is filled with passionate observations and philosophical meanderings. Ironic, amusing, and idiosyncratic, these delightful tales are a joyful addition to the first volume. So roll up your sleeves and play in the mud while these talented writers inspire you with their words.

A fascinating journey through the wisdom and wonders of Japan In love with all things Japan or looking to absorb a little Japanese wisdom into your daily life? From the philosophies of ikigai and wabi sabi to kitsch karaoke nights and futuristic robot restaurants; traditional tea ceremonies and...