Sam Wu is Not Afraid of Sharks!

Markus Jaeger explores the coalescence of Joan Baez's work as a singer and songwriter with her endeavors as a political activist throughout the last sixty years. He illustrates an American popular singer's significance as a political activist—for her audiences and for her opponents as well as for those victims of politically organized violence who have profited from her work. Mingling popular culture with political activism can be a helpful means to achieve non-violent societal progress: Joan Baez’s work offers an excellent example for this hypothesis. Revised and updated edition, with an additional chapter on Joan Baez’s artistic and political endeavours in the 2010s.

On 13 November 2015, Paris suffered the second wave of brutal terrorist attacks in a year, leaving 130 dead and many more seriously injured. How are we to make sense of these violent acts and what do they tell us about the forces shaping our world today? In this short book the influential philosopher Alain Badiou argues that while these violent events are commonly portrayed as acts of Islamic terrorism, in fact they attest to a much deeper malaise that is connected to the triumph of global capitalism and to new forms of imperialism that involve the weakening of states, such that whole regions of the world have been turned into ungovernable zones run by armed gangs in which ordinary people are forced to live the most precarious lives. These zones have become the breeding ground for a new kind of nihilism that seeks revenge for the domination of the West. And it is this new nihilism, on to which Islam has been grafted, that exerts a particular appeal to the young men and women on the margins who carried out the atrocities in Paris. The tragedy of 13 November might appear at first sight to be rooted in immigration and Islam but our wound is not so recent: it is rooted in a deeper set of transformations that have reshaped our world, creating small islands of privilege amidst large masses of the destitute and depriving us of a politics that would offer a serious alternative to the present.

The War of Spanish Succession is over, many sailors are out of work, and the thriving American colonies are quickly becoming the place of opportunity. For Sam Bellamy it is the opportunity to become the captain of his own ship. When he falls in love with a rebellious New England debutante, he finds out very quickly that he needs more than a dream to win over her socialite parents. After a failed treasure salvaging expedition, Sam makes one last desperate attempt to change his economic standing and unwittingly becomes the captain of the pirate ship Mary Anne. As a self-proclaimed «Free Prince», Sam wages war on greedy merchantmen, slave traders, and Mother Nature in a bid not only for the love of his life but for life itself.

GOOD JUST ISN’T ENOUGH. BE FANTASTIC Good is just average. Who wants to just be ‘good’ anymore? Most people are good, and you can’t afford to be just the same as everyone else. Would you want to employ someone who is just good at their job? Would you buy a product that’s just average? Nowadays everything needs to be better. To stand out in business and in life you have to be fantastic. Alan Austin-Smith knows how to get there and he’s developed the ‘Fantastic theory’ to show us all how. Fantastic people share seven characteristics. Passionate; Creative; Delighting people; Performers; Alive Inside; Always Learning; Have Fun. How many do you have? Make it all of them. Push your business to shine. Make it fantastic! • A full-colour, highly visual book with real impact in motivating you to be Fantastic! in all that you do • Straightforward advice that anyone can apply in their work or life, or in running their own business • Covers perennial selling topics such as motivation, confidence, creativity and communication

Die Welt der chinesischen Kampfk?nste Geheimnisvolle M?nchskrieger mit scheinbar ?bernat?rlichen F?hig­keiten, die sie in spektakul?ren Vorf?hrungen zur Schau stellen, und eine Unzahl von Kungfu-Filmen pr?gten bislang das Bild des Wushu im Ausland. – Dieses Buch r?umt mit Klischees auf. Es zeigt, was authentische chinesische Kampfkunst ist: eine Kunst, die jahrhunderte­lang in K?mpfen auf Leben und Tod erprobt wurde und auf diese Weise zu unvergleichlicher Wirksamkeit gelangte. Maik Albrecht ist seit zehn Jahren direkter Sch?ler eines der besten Meister Chinas, Li Zhenghua. Durch diesen erhielt er auch Zugang zu anderen gro?en Meistern, die heute oft vollkommen zur?ckgezogen leben. Aus ihrer Sicht ist nur der bereit, echte Kampfkunst zu lernen, der es auf sich nimmt, sich ?ber lange Zeit hinweg durch m?hselige Gongfu-?bungen die notwendigen Grundlagen hierf?r anzutrainieren. Den Leser erwartet eine atemberaubende Reise durch die Landschaft der chinesischen Kampfk?nste mit vielen interessanten Verweisen auf europ?ische oder japanische Traditionen. Meister aus Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, die hierzulande v?llig unbekannt sind, aber zu den besten der Welt geh?ren, werden vorgestellt, ebenso einige bekannte und weitgehend unbekannte Stilrichtungen sowie klassische Trainingsprinzipien und -methoden f?r den Aufbau der inneren Kraft.

"Peter Dougherty does the near-impossible in this brilliant book . . . [he] makes economics engaging and accessible." –Professor Larry J. Sabato, University of Virginia In this spirited and timely book, Peter Dougherty shows how economists are drawing on Adam Smith's civic writings to illuminate how the market creates not only fiscal capital, but «social capital.» Dougherty demonstrates how Smith's ideas are currently experiencing a renaissance. He then explores several impressive initiatives to demonstrate what today's theoretical and practicing economists are accomplishing in the spirit of Adam Smith's moral sentiments: the institutional reform of transitional and developing economies; the financing of new technological, medical, and educational initiatives; and the economic revival of cities. Capitalism pervades every aspect of our daily life. Peter Dougherty now offers a fascinating peek at its hidden soul.

A short, sharp intervention in the crucial debate about the future of democracy, which has been brought to a head by events from Brexit to the Trump phenomenon.We live in strange days in the history of democracy.Every serious politician in the Western world supports democracy. Yet when the EU Referendum and American Elections both delivered the ‘wrong’ result, elites challenged the merit of the people’s will, and some even tried to block it. Preferring unelected institutions, from technocrats to the courts, self-appointed higher minds questioned whether voters are fit to be trusted with their own futures. Ours is the age of “I support democracy, but…”And yet the answer will never be to impose limitations. Popular democracy must offer better choices, rather than removing choice altogether. It’s time to defend democracy and fight for more it, with no ifs, buts or backtracks.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in transforming the impersonal character of the medical experience into a personalized, relational, spiritual, and holistic dialog about human health. It promotes a holistic vision of the doctor-patient relationship, a medicine that ought to be based on the totality of the human experience rather than on the reductive view of the patient as a person with a certain disease. Ken A. Bryson describes the character of medicine as the gateway to holistic healing and argues that we need to secure the ethical foundation of universal medicine as not relative to a cultural setting, thus establishing the Oath of Hippocrates as the universal proof of human dignity. This view emboldens us to raise medicine from the level of an impersonal technological encounter with disease to its rightful place as a sacred activity that includes all the levels of the human experience. The book offers practical suggestions on how to accomplish that objective.

We all have minds, but what exactly is a mind? Is your mind the same thing as your brain? How does what’s happening in your mind cause your behaviour? Can you know what’s going on in other people’s minds? Can you even be sure what’s going on in your own? Are babies conscious? How about cats? Or self-driving cars? Philosophy of mind grapples with questions like these, exploring who we are and how we fit into the world. In this student-friendly guide, McClelland introduces the key ideas in philosophy of mind, showing why they matter and how philosophers have tried to answer them. He covers the major historical moments in philosophy of mind, from Descartes and his troubles with immaterial souls up to today’s ‘consciousness wars’. Additionally, he examines the implications that philosophy of mind has for psychology, artificial intelligence and even particle physics. McClelland lays out the centuries-long dialogue between philosophy and science, presenting a uniquely grounded, practical picture of the field for students. Rich with real-world examples and written for the absolute beginner, What is Philosophy of Mind? gives students the tools to delve deeper into this dynamic field of philosophy.