On Insignificance


Book Description

Focusing on the anthropological consequences of the disappearing of materiality and sensory embodiment, On Insignificance highlights some of the most perturbing patterns of insignificance that have seeped into our everyday lives. Seeking to explain the semiotic causes of feelings of meaninglessness, Leone posits that caring for the singularities of the world is the most viable way to resist the alienating effects of the digital bureaucratization of meaning. The book will be of interest to scholars of anthropology, cultural studies, semiotics, aesthetics, communication studies, and social theory.




Postscript on Insignificance


Book Description

Cornelius Castoriadis (1922-1997) was a philosopher, social critic, political activist, practicing psychoanalyst and professional economist. His work is widely recognized as one of the most singular and important contributions to twentieth-century thought. In this collection of interviews, Castoriadis discusses some of his most important ideas with leading figures in the disciplines that play such a crucial part in his philosophical work: poetry, psychoanalysis, biology and mathematics. Available in English for the first time, these interviews provide a concise and accessible introduction to his work as a whole, allowing him to draw on the astounding breadth of his knowledge (ranging from political theory and sociology to ontology and the philosophy of science). They also render Castoriadis' cutting, polemical and entertaining style while displaying the originality and clarity of his primary concepts. Intellectually provoking, this timely collection shows how Castoriadis' polemics are sharp and riveting, his conceptual manoeuvres rigorous and original, and his passion inspiring. This is an excellent introduction to one of Europe's most important intellectuals.




The Fear of Insignificance


Book Description

This book shows how, after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the Gospel of the free market became the only world-religion of universal validity. The belief that all value needs to be quantifiable was extended to human beings, whose value became dependent on their rating on the various ranking-scales in the global infotainment system.




Insignificance


Book Description

JOSEPH is trying to focus on a plumbing job, but is too distracted by the terrible things that have been happening in his family. JOSEPH believes that his son has tried to murder his wife. JOSEPH is afraid that his wife is going to leave him. JOSEPH is terrified that his son will try to kill again. Insignificance – the debut novel for adults from Carnegie Medal-nominee James Clammer – unfurls over the course of twenty-four hours, placing the reader right inside the head of its struggling narrator. A tender act of empathy for the uncertainty and awkwardness of a vulnerable man, Insignificance is also a masterclass in burning tension – as we start to fear not just for the safety of Joseph's family, but that Joseph himself may not even make it through the day....




Atmospheric Disturbances


Book Description

At once a moving love story, a dark comedy, a psychological thriller, and a deeply disturbing portrait of a fracturing mind, this highly inventive debut explores the mysterious nature of human relationships.




The Inessential Indexical


Book Description

In this book the authors argue that there are no such things as essential indexicality, irreducibly de se attitudes, or self-locating attitudes.




Insignificance: Hong Kong Stories


Book Description

Sometimes what is remembered is best forgotten. This is the feeling that permeates Insignificance. The protagonists in these stories cannot help but recall their former Hong Kong existence, one that shimmers with beauty and pain. On September 26, 2014, the occupation of three districts in Hong Kong -- known as the Umbrella Revolution -- began, shutting down traffic on several of the city's major thoroughfares. It was broadly a protest against the continued encroachment upon freedoms in this Chinese city, a city that is still not yet quite "China." The occupation lasted till December 15, 2014, and was quashed almost as quickly as it began. Subsequent protests are routinely silenced by Hong Kong's and China's governing elites. Will Hong Kong be reduced to an insignificance that denies its British colonial genesis and decries its Chinese Special Administrative Regional reality? Does Hong Kong's future look like its past, or is nostalgia a dangerous indulgence? Who will shed tears for the city it could or should become? These stories are among Xu Xi's most pointed, powerful work, as characters try to find their way forward in a familiar city they no longer recognize.




Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus


Book Description

“Aven is a perky, hilarious, and inspiring protagonist whose attitude and humor will linger even after the last page has turned.” —School Library Journal (Starred review) Aven Green loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she’ll have to answer the question over and over again. Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. It’s hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven’s about to discover she can do it all . . . even without arms. Autumn 2017 Kids’ Indie Next Pick Junior Library Guild Selection Library of Congress's 52 Great Reads List 2018




Studies in Insignificance


Book Description

These stories tantalize by bordering on the darker sides of human sexuality. And by exploring these darker venues, Krause has been able to illuminate humanity in general-our fleeting glimpses of cruelty and revenge, or, say, uncertainty and masochism. You will find stories ranging from a man falling into an increasingly bizarre relationship with a German couple in their country home (My Brown Shirt), to a Japanese man who cannot rid himself of the childhood memory of spying on a pair making violent love. All of Krause's characters share obsession. And while their obsessions are seemingly insignificant to outsiders, those same obsessions tellingly reflect not so insignificant political and religious obsessions that we have recently and historically seen doing so much global harm.




Insignificance


Book Description

Imagine if Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstein met in a hotel room. Just briefly. Just for one night. What would they talk about? And what if they were interrupted by the “two Joes”—McCarthy and DiMaggio? INSIGNIFICANCE is the intriguing, hilarious, and heartbreaking story of the Senator, the Ballplayer, the Professor, and the Actress. Four icons of American history meeting in one night, in one hotel room, in New York City.




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