Acqua Alta


Book Description

“A dramatic and deeply satisfying climax . . . a high-stakes mystery in which the setting vibrates with as much life as the story itself.” —Publishers Weekly As Venice braces for a winter tempest, intrepid Italian sleuth Commissario Guido Brunetti finds out that an archaeologist and old friend has been savagely beaten at the palazzo home of opera singer Flavia Petrelli. Then, as the floodwaters rise, the corpse of a museum director is discovered—and Brunetti must wade through the chaotic city to solve his deadliest case yet. “An evocative peep into the dark underworld of the beauteous city.” —Time Out London “A superb police detective.” —Library Journal Also published under the title Death in High Water




Imagine Math 7


Book Description

Imagine mathematics, imagine with the help of mathematics, imagine new worlds, new geometries, new forms. Imagine building mathematical models that make it possible to manage our world better, imagine solving great problems, imagine new problems never before thought of, imagine combining music, art, poetry, literature, architecture, theatre and cinema with mathematics. Imagine the unpredictable and sometimes counterintuitive applications of mathematics in all areas of human endeavour. This seventh volume starts with a homage to the Italian artist Mimmo Paladino who created exclusively for the Venice Conference 2019 ten original and unique works of art paper dedicated to the themes of the meeting. A large section is dedicated to the most recent Fields Medals including a Homage to Maryam Mirzakhani including a presentation of the exhibition on soap bubbles in art and science that took place in 2019. A section is dedicated to cinema and theatre including the performances by Claire Bardainne & Adrien Mondot. A part of the conference focused on the community of mathematicians, their role in literature and even in politics with the extraordinary example of Antanas Mockus Major of Bogotá. Mathematics in the constructions of bridges, in particular in Italy in the Sixties was presented by Tullia Iori. A very particular contribution on Origami by a mathematician, Marco Abate and an artist, Alessandro Beber. And many other topics. As usual the topics are treated in a way that is rigorous but captivating, detailed and full of evocations. This is an all-embracing look at the world of mathematics and culture. The world, life, culture, everything has changed in a few weeks with the Coronavirus. Culture, science are the main ways to safeguard people's physical and social life. Trust in humanity's creativity and ability. The motto today in Italy is Everything will be fine. This work is addressed to all those who have an interest in Mathematics.




Venice Shall Rise Again


Book Description

The city of Venice, Italy, has been subjected to periodic flooding, or acqua alta, for centuries. Venice Shall Rise Again presents a unique proposition to halt this flooding. Based on years of work and experiment, experts Gambolati and Teatini describe an innovative yet technologically simple, economically inexpensive, and environmentally friendly project to raise Venice by 25-30 cm over ten years by injecting seawater into 650-1000 m deep geological formations. This project would be conducted under conditions of absolute safety, stability and integrity conserving the unique artistic and architectural patrimony of this deeply beloved city. Beginning with a brief history of the Venetian Republic, Venice Shall Rise Again addresses the actions undertaken by Venice to protect the city and the lagoon from the sea and land attack for more than a millennium, including the MoSE project, a system of mobile barriers presently under construction. Detailed in its engineering details and ideas, but with enough background information and context to help the interested reader understand the concepts, this book will be of interest to all readers concerned about the fate of Venice. - Provides a history of the technical measures taken by the Venetian Republic to preserve the lagoon and the city or Venice - Details technical specifications of a new method to secure Venice against periodic flooding




Death and Judgment


Book Description

Venice’s Commissario Brunetti takes on his “most difficult and politically sensitive case to date” in the gripping New York Times–bestselling series (Booklist). In Death and Judgment, a truck crashes and spills its dangerous cargo on a treacherous road in the Italian Dolomite mountains. Meanwhile, in Santa Lucia, a prominent international lawyer is found dead aboard an intercity train. Suspecting a connection between the two tragedies, Brunetti digs deep for an answer, stumbling upon a seedy Venetian bar that holds the key to a crime network that reaches far beyond the laguna. But it will take another violent death in Venice before Brunetti and his colleagues begin to understand what is really going on. “No one is more graceful and accomplished than Leon.” —The Washington Post “The sophisticated but still moral Brunetti, with his love of food and his loving family, proves a worthy custodian of timeless values and verities.” —The Wall Street Journal “[Brunetti’s] humane police work is disarming, and his ambles through the city are a delight.” —The New York Times Book Review “The heady atmosphere of Venice and a galaxy of fully realized characters enrich this intriguing and finally horrifying tale.” —Publishers Weekly “The first of Leon’s books to knit together all her strengths: endearing detective, jaundiced social pathology, and a paranoid eye for plotting on a grand scale.” —Kirkus Reviews




The Housing Lark


Book Description

The humorous yet poignant novel of West Indian migrant life in London that adds an iconic voice to the growing Caribbean canon A Penguin Classic Set in London in the 1960's, when the UK encouraged its Commonwealth citizens to emigrate as a result of the post-war labor shortage, The Housing Lark explores the Caribbean migrant experience in the "Mother Country" by following a group of friends as they attempt to buy a home together. Despite encountering a racist and predatory rental market, the friends scheme, often comically, to find a literal and figurative place of their own. Will these motley folks, male and female, Black and Indian, from Trinidad and Jamaica, dreamers, hustlers, and artists, be able to achieve this milestone of upward mobility? Unique and wonderful, comic and serious, cynical and tenderhearted, The Housing Lark poses the question of whether their "lark," or quixotic idea of finding a home, can ever become a reality. Kittitian-British novelist and playwright Caryl Phillips contributes a foreword, while postcolonial literature scholar Dohra Ahmad provides a contextual introduction.




Quickly Changing River


Book Description

Recipient, 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship With her strong voice and precise language, Meena Alexander has crafted this visceral, worldly collection of poems. The experience she brings to the reader is sensual in many senses of the word, as she invokes bright colors, sounds, smells, and feelings. Her use of vivid imagery from the natural world—birds, lilies, horses—up against that from the world of humans—oppression, slavery, and violence—ties her work to the earth even as she works a few mystical poetic transformations. In Alexander’s world, the songs of a bird can become the voice of a girl in a café and the red juice of mulberries can be as shocking as blood. When she focuses her attention on the cloth of a girl’s sari, the material of a woman’s life, or the blood in her veins, she speaks to the particular experience of women in the world. The women are vividly present—sometimes they are hidden or veiled, juxtaposed with open gardens in full bloom. It is difficult not to come away from Quickly Changing River without a new sense of the power and frailty of being alive. Aletheia (Girl in River Water) First I saw your face, The your whole body lying still Hands jutting, eyelids shut Twin nostrils flare, sheer Efflorescebce when memory cannot speak- a horde of body parts glistening.




Everything Change


Book Description

A collection of short stories by writers from around the world, exploring the climate crisis and how human responses to it will shape the futures we will inhabit. Featuring stories in styles ranging from science fiction and fabulism to literary fiction, weird fiction, and action-thriller, all drawn from the 2020 Everything Change Climate Fiction Contest. The contest and anthology are presented by the Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative at Arizona State University, a partnership of the Center for Science and the Imagination and the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing.




Quietly in Their Sleep


Book Description

A nun has left her convent after a series of suspicious deaths: “Leon’s novels are always a pleasure.” —The Washington Post In Venice, Italy, Commissario Guido Brunetti comes to the aid of a young Catholic sister, who has left her convent after five of her nursing home patients died unexpectedly. In the course of his inquiries, Brunetti encounters an unusual cast of characters, but discovers nothing that seems criminal. The police detective must determine whether the nun is simply creating a smoke screen to justify abandoning her vocation—or if she has stumbled onto something very real and very sinister that places her own life in imminent danger. “Leon’s books shimmer in the grace of their setting and are warmed by the charm of their characters.” —The New York Times Book Review Also published under the title The Death of Faith




Venezia


Book Description




The Rough Guide to Venice & the Veneto


Book Description

The Rough Guide to Venice & the Veneto is the essential travel guide with clear maps and coverage of the regions unforgettable attractions. From the spiralling Scala de Bevalo to Europe's biggest collection of contemporary art in the Dogana di Mare, The Rough Guide to Venice & the Veneto unearths the best sites, hotels, restaurants, cafés and nightlife across every price range. You'll find the lowdown on the now-trendy Rialto area and the latest news on the flood barrier and Venice’s other conservation projects as well as the little-known nooks and crannies you should be exploring. The Rough Guide to Venice & the Veneto includes sections on the city's beautiful water-lapped palaces and lively festivals with specialist coverage of Venetian painting, sculpture and architecture and detailed information on the best markets and shopping-spots. Explore all corners of the region with authoritative background on everything from San Marco to the palazzi of the Canal Grande, relying on the clearest maps of any guide. Make the Most of Your Time with The Rough Guide to Venice & the Veneto.