A Desert of Pure Feeling


Book Description

From the writer whose voice Carolyn See has characterized as one of the strangest, most distinguished in American fiction writing today ("There is really nothing to compare her with, except, maybe, the austere beauty of a Japanese rock garden"), here is a richly dramatic novel about a woman struggling to make peace with herself as a mother, a lover, an artist, and a friend. Lucy Patterson has just encountered her past in the person of a man whom she has not seen for twenty-five years. Dr. Carlos Cabrera saved the life of her infant son, and it was her love for him that compelled her to end her marriage -- the first moment in an arc of emotional turbulence and upheaval that has since defined her existence. Her past having caught up with her, Lucy has come to an isolated motel in the desert outside Las Vegas to write out her life, reexamine it, and, she hopes, find its calm center. It's a journey she is determined to make alone, but in the next room is a young woman -- a single mother, stripper, and prostitute panicked about her own life -- whom Lucy finds she cannot, and finally does not want to, ignore. A fiercely odd pair, they nonetheless become indispensable to each other in navigating the emotional terrain of their past and in finding, separately and together, clear paths into the future. A Desert of Pure Feeling is the finest work we have yet seen from a writer whose gifts, at once lyrical and tough-minded, become vividly apparent in this penetrating and compelling story.




Capacity


Book Description

G. Roger Denson brings singular insight to Thomas McEvilley's writings. As an art writer he has explored similar territory, but from the point of view of a nomadic ideologist. His approach matches that of his subject. He addresses the issues of pragmatism, historicism, and cultural relativism. In so doing, he effectively dismantles the need to establish a master narrative. The contrast and agreement between these two writers constitutes a mapping of the terrain of contemporary culture. What sets Thomas McEvilley apart from other critics in art and culture is his direct knowledge of the newest art and theory, and his comprehensive understanding of classic art and ancient civilizations. It is rare to find a writer equally fluent in the production of modernist aesthetics, the anti-aesthetics of post-modernism, T'ang Dynasty Taoist painting, the doctrines of the Tantra, Platonic mysticism, and Aristotelian logic. This vast knowledge has enabled him to produce some of the best-conceived and eccentric




The Artist's Way


Book Description

"With its gentle affirmations, inspirational quotes, fill-in-the-blank lists and tasks — write yourself a thank-you letter, describe yourself at 80, for example — The Artist’s Way proposes an egalitarian view of creativity: Everyone’s got it."—The New York Times "Morning Pages have become a household name, a shorthand for unlocking your creative potential"—Vogue Over four million copies sold! Since its first publication, The Artist's Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron's novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery. The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery – The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors. A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.




Los Angeles Magazine


Book Description

Los Angeles magazine is a regional magazine of national stature. Our combination of award-winning feature writing, investigative reporting, service journalism, and design covers the people, lifestyle, culture, entertainment, fashion, art and architecture, and news that define Southern California. Started in the spring of 1961, Los Angeles magazine has been addressing the needs and interests of our region for 48 years. The magazine continues to be the definitive resource for an affluent population that is intensely interested in a lifestyle that is uniquely Southern Californian.




The Truthful and the Good


Book Description

lbis volume was occasioned by the desire of its contributors to honor Robert Sokolowski on his sixtieth birthday. The desire first took fonn on the streets of an American metropolis when several of us, while attending a philosophy conference, were bemoaning the lack of passion for doing philosophy as we all conceived it. In this expression of our discontent we all had a common exemplar in mind, someone for whom the passion for "the truthful" and "the good" is embodied in every sentence of his rich writings. Felicitously this very thinker was someone whom we an regard as manifesting in his person and life these same properties which his writings exhibit and pursue as luminous ideals. As a result, John Brough, John Drummond, and I came up with the idea that we hold our own conference and do philosophy as we envisage it and at the same time honor its foremost exemplary practitioner whose sixtieth birthday was the following year. Immediately the idea took wings among the handful ofus and the dreariness of that philosophy congress receded. The first task of thinking of possible speakers was easy. The issue of the venue for our symposium, what I like to call the "Sokofest," had to be decided, as well as the details of its realization.




Twentieth-century American Western Writers


Book Description

This award-winning multi-volume series is dedicated to making literature and its creators better understood and more accessible to students and interested readers, while satisfying the standards of librarians, teachers and scholars. Dictionary of Literary Biography provides reliable information in an easily comprehensible format, while placing writers in the larger perspective of literary history. Dictionary of Literary Biography systematically presents career biographies and criticism of writers from all eras and all genres through volumes dedicated to specific types of literature and time periods. For a listing of Dictionary of Literary Biography volumes sorted by genre click here. 01




Faith and Philosophical Analysis


Book Description

What tensions arise between philosophy of religion and theology? What strengths and weaknesses of analytical methods emerge in relation to strongly confessional philosophical theologies, or to Continental philosophies? Faith and Philosophical Analysis evaluates how well philosophy of religion serves in understanding religious faith. Figures who rarely share the space of the same book - leading exponents of analytic philosophy of religion and those who question its legacy - are drawn together in this book, with their disagreements harnessed to positive effect. Figures such as Richard Swinburne and Basil Mitchell reflect on their life-long projects from a perspective which has not previously been seen in print. A wide range of approaches found in contemporary philosophy of religion are explored, including: reformed epistemology, 'traditional' metaphysical theory building, feminist methodologies, Wittgensteinian approaches, and American pragmatism. Considering the trends in philosophy of religion as they are interacting across continents, looking particularly at philosophical influences in North America, Britain, and Continental Europe, this book will appeal to students, scholars and general readers with an interest in philosophy of religion, theology, or analytical philosophy.




Seeing Silence


Book Description

This wide-ranging study explores the many meanings of silence through the work of visual artists, philosophers, theologians, writers, and composers. Mark C. Taylor’s prolific output has delved into topics ranging from media to metaphysics and from postmodern theology to posthuman bodies. His latest explores the significance of silence amid the buzzing networks of our modern age. Have we forgotten how to listen to each other, to recognize the virtues of modesty and reticence, and to appreciate the resonance of silence? Are we less prepared than ever for the ultimate silence that awaits us all? In Taylor’s account, our way to hearing silence is, paradoxically, to see it. He explores the many variations of silence by considering the work of leading modern and postmodern visual artists, including Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhardt, James Turrell, and Anish Kapoor. Developing the insights of philosophers, theologians, writers, and composers, Taylor weaves a rich narrative modeled on the Stations of the Cross. Recasting Hegel’s phenomenology of spirit and Kierkegaard’s stages on life’s way, Taylor translates the traditional Via Dolorosa into a Nietzschean Via Jubilosa that affirms light in the midst of darkness. Seeing Silence is a thoughtful meditation that invites readers to linger long enough to see silence, and, in this way, perhaps to hear once again the wordless Word that once was named “God.”




Theories of Modern Art


Book Description




Machine Learning: End-to-End guide for Java developers


Book Description

Develop, Implement and Tuneup your Machine Learning applications using the power of Java programming About This Book Detailed coverage on key machine learning topics with an emphasis on both theoretical and practical aspects Address predictive modeling problems using the most popular machine learning Java libraries A comprehensive course covering a wide spectrum of topics such as machine learning and natural language through practical use-cases Who This Book Is For This course is the right resource for anyone with some knowledge of Java programming who wants to get started with Data Science and Machine learning as quickly as possible. If you want to gain meaningful insights from big data and develop intelligent applications using Java, this course is also a must-have. What You Will Learn Understand key data analysis techniques centered around machine learning Implement Java APIs and various techniques such as classification, clustering, anomaly detection, and more Master key Java machine learning libraries, their functionality, and various kinds of problems that can be addressed using each of them Apply machine learning to real-world data for fraud detection, recommendation engines, text classification, and human activity recognition Experiment with semi-supervised learning and stream-based data mining, building high-performing and real-time predictive models Develop intelligent systems centered around various domains such as security, Internet of Things, social networking, and more In Detail Machine Learning is one of the core area of Artificial Intelligence where computers are trained to self-learn, grow, change, and develop on their own without being explicitly programmed. In this course, we cover how Java is employed to build powerful machine learning models to address the problems being faced in the world of Data Science. The course demonstrates complex data extraction and statistical analysis techniques supported by Java, applying various machine learning methods, exploring machine learning sub-domains, and exploring real-world use cases such as recommendation systems, fraud detection, natural language processing, and more, using Java programming. The course begins with an introduction to data science and basic data science tasks such as data collection, data cleaning, data analysis, and data visualization. The next section has a detailed overview of statistical techniques, covering machine learning, neural networks, and deep learning. The next couple of sections cover applying machine learning methods using Java to a variety of chores including classifying, predicting, forecasting, market basket analysis, clustering stream learning, active learning, semi-supervised learning, probabilistic graph modeling, text mining, and deep learning. The last section highlights real-world test cases such as performing activity recognition, developing image recognition, text classification, and anomaly detection. The course includes premium content from three of our most popular books: Java for Data Science Machine Learning in Java Mastering Java Machine Learning On completion of this course, you will understand various machine learning techniques, different machine learning java algorithms you can use to gain data insights, building data models to analyze larger complex data sets, and incubating applications using Java and machine learning algorithms in the field of artificial intelligence. Style and approach This comprehensive course proceeds from being a tutorial to a practical guide, providing an introduction to machine learning and different machine learning techniques, exploring machine learning with Java libraries, and demonstrating real-world machine learning use cases using the Java platform.




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